A Supremely Bright Idea
by Sinead Rivka
Summary: Read: sarcasm. For once, Tony had nothing to do with the complete lack of judgment. An unexpected "visitor" changes the original plans for Tony and Yinsen's escape, and then becomes entwined with Tony's life. AU-Movieverse. T for situations.
1. Chapter 1

A Supremely Bright Idea  
By Sinead

_**Author's Note:**__ Yes, I inserted a version of myself into the Iron Man story. No, it really isn't me and doesn't have all of my traits and habits. Yes, that's my name. No, the spelling isn't right, and that's to protect my privacy. No, I don't know if I'll continue it. And this is what happens when you are going through midterms. I'm at my highest creative point with barely any time to do anything with that creativity. It __**sucks**__. On with the story._

Chapter One

.o.

"I don't know what I find to be more humiliating, the fact that I have to have sex with you, or the result that if I don't, I'll get raped by the Arabian Prince out there." The young woman was not quite sulking, sitting on a stool and watching Tony Stark as he continued assembling "the missile." She knew for a fact that he was working on a circuitry part that would help convert energy from his miniature arc reactor.

Yinsen spoke up from the other side of the room. "I doubt that Raza is true Arabian, but I do believe that the title is appropriate." He was not smiling. Nobody was smiling after the scene today.

"Well, those seem to be your choices, so you'd better make one before tomorrow night." Tony didn't look up because he didn't want to see her face again. It wasn't that she was ugly; she had a natural beauty that he had never seen in a person before. "Becks, you're just going to have to do one of the two things. I can't help you with it."

"Funny, Stark. Really. Considering that you're part of the equation and yet you don't want to affect my judgment, you say you can't help me." She stood, pacing and watching the camera, trying to find a way out.

Rewind to a week and a half before this scene, and you would come to the point where she came into their small world.

.o.

Tony was washing his face, the arc reactor bright and new in his chest, two days old, sending a soft, almost nonexistent hum through his ribcage that was almost pleasant. He was still getting used to it. Yinsen was making food, some gruel of a new flavor, thanks to a different spice that Tony had demanded, and it was making their cave smell almost like a home, once you got past the gasoline fumes and the smell of hot metal.

That was when they heard the screams.

Both stopped mid-motion and looked at each other before staring at the door. Either they were killing a deer rather messily, or there was a young boy or a woman around that was going through something unpleasant. Snorting at the word choice his mind came up with, Tony moved closer to the door, trying to discern what the screams were about. It lasted almost ten minutes, but he couldn't get any words from the yelling, just the fact that there was anger, hurt, and something else that he couldn't identify.

But his blood ran cold when silence came back again. "Yinsen?"

"That was new," the man murmured, just as shaken as Tony. "I'm useful for translations and surgery, you're useful for weaponry. Women, or boys, aren't useful here, and what prostitutes that _are_ in the area are hidden further in the mountains." Turning back to making lunch, Yinsen seemed quieter, more withdrawn into himself, and Tony thought that he looked almost scared.

There were feet pounding down the hallway, and something being dragged. Moving closer to the door instinctually, but stopping just where it would look like it was coincidence that he was so close, Tony waited until hearing the yell of someone about to open the door. When it was opened, a barrage of large men hustled through, and two of them literally tossed the person they were dragging right at Stark, who managed to hold onto the person, then adjust where his hands were holding, wincing and blushing madly.

Yinsen translated. "The girl is a gift to you for your leisure. She has been inspected and is virginal, if an infidel dog. This gift is given to you as reward for your fast work so far, and in good grace that she will help you continue your focus." The man looked sick at speaking the words of their captors, but didn't move when they left.

Stark looked down to the woman, and saw that she was conscious, and probably had been conscious the entire time, beginning to tremble. He didn't move for a moment, still supporting her, wondering how an obviously-American young woman was here, wearing sturdy clothing. She didn't look up, and was staring into nothingness. So the genius began to do a gentlemanly thing: He began to pick her up and carry her to the bed so that she could relax, possibly sleep off some of the trauma while he worked.

She _bit_ him and hit him square in the nose.

Yelling in pain, tears gathering at his eyes at the rude reply to his help and trying not to drop her, Tony felt her get one leg loose and use it as leverage to break free from his hold, then dart off. She was steady, moving, so he leaned over, holding a hand to his nose and wincing. "Ow, Goddamnit! Ow!"

Yinsen wasn't helping anything by laughing at Tony, shaking his head. "Well, what do you expect, my smart friend? She heard my translation of their words, and you picking her up and moving towards a bed is going to seem like what, now, hm?" He turned and smiled gently at the young woman. "I apologize for his tactless behavior, miss, and I assure you that right now, he has anything _but_ intercourse on his mind."

"Nope, thought about it twice yesterday," Tony refuted, wincing. "And it didn't involve teenagers."

"I'm twenty-two," came her angry, smooth voice. Looking up, Tony sniffed to test his nose and winced, seeing her dark blue eyes narrow at his own dark brown ones.

He sighed, leaning against a desk. "I'm sorry. You were shaking, I thought that I was going to help by getting you to sit down somewhere out of the way while we worked." He sighed. "I don't have _time_ for this situation, or for engaging in extra-curricular activities. Survival now, games later," he grumbled, unbuttoning the top of his shirt just enough so that he could look at the shoulder she bit, glad that she didn't break the skin. Noticing her lack of speech, he looked up at her. "What?"

"Tony Stark?"

"Yeah. Tony Star, CEO of Stark Industries, current POW and future free man." He rubbed at his face. "Future _dead_ man if this doesn't work out right."

"Fantastic," she snarled, finding her own seat in the wheelbarrow that Tony had occupied the week before, grabbing a blanket to go around her shoulders. "I get kidnapped and shoved into the same room as the world's richest manwhore."

Wincing, Tony looked to one side, rubbing at his neck. "Can't argue with you on that one. Are you from New York?"

The change of topic caught the young woman off-guard, and she blinked twice before replying, "Nope."

"Haht-foahd?"

"Nope, not from Connecticut. Or Providence." She winced at his bad Northeastern accent of "dropping the R's" from any given word.

"Boston."

"Wow. You got it."

Yinsen was grinning and finishing the meal, pouring it into a tin cup before bringing it to the young woman with a spoon. "They feed us more than enough. Here you go."

Accepting it with a frown of slight shock and a nod of thanks, she dug in carefully, then sucked it down quickly, coughing when Tony's tactless nature popped up again. "What did they do to you?"

Swallowing her food and glaring at him, she weighed her options. Should she allow herself to get offended at his lack of a filter between his brain and mouth, jeopardizing the possibility of any amicable atmosphere in the future, or could she get her emotions under control to respond logically, respectfully and without sulking? Second option. She held up her hand. "Give me just a little time to get myself back together, process what happened, and then I'll let you know what happened."

Yinsen was impressed. "Are you sure that you're only twenty-two?"

"Forced but natural maturation during an intense college program. That ties into the 'why I'm here' problem." She spooned down her food, looking at it in deep contemplation, missing the look that the men shared before Yinsen went back to making food, and Tony moved around, assessing materials, wanting to make a third cot, but finding that they didn't have enough and he couldn't damn well ask for one, not after what they required of the woman being in here. He'd just wait until she fell asleep, then put her in bed, and then grab a blanket for himself and settle against the fireplace-slash-forge to keep warm.

He passed close to her without even thinking about it. At her movement to lean away, the man stopped and looked down at her. Drawing in a sigh, knowing what she was thinking about, Tony murmured, "You say no, it's a no. Even if you said yes, I'd say no. It's plain rude to have sex when your roommate is around."

At least he got a snort of amusement and a quirk of her lips in reply. Moving on, he itched at a healing scar on his chest, sitting on his cot and thinking. Yinsen smiled at the almost-mirror-image of the young woman doing the same. Both so bright, which was already evident in the young woman's stature. She was quietly intelligent, observing everything around her, and was calm, unwilling to let the circumstances get to her. He jumped when Tony leapt to his feet again, waving at the camera before banging on the door. The surgeon stood. "What are you doing?!"

"Getting a damn screen to go around the toilet or she'll never use it or hide behind it to wash or something. I don't care if they bolt it to the floor, just so long as there's _something_. Trust me."

Yinsen frowned lightly, then looked to the young woman, who was sitting very still, turned halfway around to look at Tony. When she turned back, she saw the older man looking at her in question. She gave her nod in answer. Tony was right.

And not an hour later had a free-standing three-panel screen around the toilet that was _not_ bolted to the floor. No sooner had it gone up than she had gone behind it. Tony tried not to listen but there wasn't any noise of what passed as their toilet being used. When she emerged, however, he got back to work quickly. He had learned once that if a woman had _that look_ on her face, she was mad enough to castrate any man that said "boo" around her in the wrong tone of voice. And _any_ tone of voice was the wrong tone of voice.

"Tea?" Yinsen offered, holding out an empty mug in offer as soon as she had taken her perch up in the wheelbarrow again, ignoring Tony's frantic gestures of "no!" behind the young woman.

She looked up at him, then started to cry. Smiling, the elder man put the clay mug back onto the stool it had been on and embraced her, leaving the younger to stare in bewilderment. She cried bitterly for a long while, falling asleep on Yinsen's shoulder once exhaustion claimed her. Tony had watched quietly, not wanting to disturb her purge of emotion, her frustration and helplessness. When his mentor smiled to him and nodded for him to come over, he soon found his arms full of sleeping woman, instructed to put her on his cot and cover her up with three blankets. Tony went one step better and pulled the sturdy leather work-boots she was wearing off, tucking the blankets around her feet. He set the boots halfway down the cot, then smiled softly, shaking his head.

Walking back to the older man, seeing him pull out the backgammon board, he asked in a very low tone, "How'd you know what to do?"

"I didn't," came the smiled reply. "Kindness would reach her heart and help her begin to heal. I didn't expect the mention of tea to make her cry, however, I did expect that talking with her over the tea, sharing time with her, would have caused the release of emotional pain."

"Like lancing a boil."

"Exactly. It's strategy."

"Huh. Your turn to start."

And while the unnamed woman slept in Tony's cot, they played, keeping it quiet this first day of her captivity.

.o.

_**Note:**__ Looks like it's going to be more than one chapter. This was un-betaed, but two friends read it for kicks. I wrote it yesterday. Second Chapter in the works, might be longer than this one.  
_


	2. Chapter 2

A Supremely Bright Idea  
By Sinead

Chapter Two

.o.

She woke up warm, cozy, and lying down. Personally, she was shocked that Tony Stark, who never passed up an excuse to get up a lady's skirt, wasn't sharing the bed with her. She looked around for him, and found him curled up in a nook against the forge, snoring softly, obviously deep asleep. She sat up, hair tangled, wincing at the pain of pulled muscles from the day before. Next time, she wouldn't struggle when they tried to drag her anywhere. Her arms ached, her abs were aching worse, her neck hurt from being flung all over the place, so she probably had a bit of whiplash, her back ach—wait.

She counted the days, then sighed deeply, happy about getting her monthly cycle for the first time. Her body just bought her one more week to prepare herself to be raped. How _can_ one prepare themselves for the mental, possible physical injury of rape? Pondering that for a moment, she looked at Tony again, biting the inside of her cheek.

Giving up on that thought process and looking around for her boots, she found them at just the right place, and shoved her feet into them, wincing at the chill her toes encountered. Standing, gripping the warm sheets in her hands, she walked over to the man that had been without a cot and draped them around his shoulders, careful to pillow his head with a few layers of wool blanket.

Yinsen was watching, awake, but for a far longer time than she had been. Blinking owlishly at each other for a moment, the older man merely smiled and indicated the pot that was on the fireplace. Ah, that's why she woke up. Tea was ready. Smiling, wrapping fabric around the handle, the young woman picked the pot up, poured one mug for the elder and brought it to him after adding a spoon of sugar. Considering Tony, she poured a mug for herself with two spoons sugar and then a black, bitter cup for the still-sleeping man. Crouching, she reached over to his face, stroking it with her fingertips once before pulling back as he murmured wordlessly, half-awake, staring at her without recognition. "Pepper, I'm not . . . oh. I'm still here."

Smiling ruefully, the young woman smiled. "Yeah. Sorry." Holding up the mug, she indicated that it was for him. He took it and sipped it, smiling and leaning against the forge with a yawn that threatened to break his jaw. "Thanks."

"Welcome." Grabbing her own mug, she perched upon the bed, one leg tucked up, her ankle beneath her knee, and almost slumped forward enough over her mug to look like she were about to tumble.

"What's your name?"

She blew air on the hot water to cool it, wishing that there was milk around to thicken the liquid. "Rebeckah Fahey." She looked at him, then shrugged. "Becka is fine. Becky. Hey you. The works. I answer to anything. Except anything uncomplimentary. Then I'll just ignore you."

Nodding, Tony shoved his questions down his throat again before hearing her voice come back. She didn't even give an intro to what she was going to talk about.

"I was on a school-funded mission or 'outreach' trip to help build houses and bathrooms out here, and to show the locals how to make a water purifier for their wells to keep their kids from getting sick all the time. I'd been training in that as part of my college courses, which is why my schooling ties in with this situation." Looking down into her mug, she continued. "It was the very end of the trip, and we were heading back to the city we flew into. I was in the last vehicle in the convoy, so I saw that we were stopping, and that they were pulling people out of cars. Anyone who ran got shot. One of the local women who translated for us was killed before I looked away. I called my Mom, telling her not to talk, just to listen and write down everything that I said. I gave her the location of the village, roughly where we were, and that we were being attacked. She was crying." Tears were rolling down her face again, into her tea, but Tony saw that she didn't care. She had to speak, to articulate her pain. "I heard the gunshots getting closer, but what was scarier than that was knowing that someone was kept alive. We had the head-coverings so that we wouldn't offend anyone, and appropriate clothing for working but for also adhering to Muslim dress codes. I told Mom I loved her."

"Where's the phone?"

Looking up, she saw Yinsen glaring at Tony for interrupting, but she was glad for the small diversion. Her voice cracked. "I can't show you. They'll get it on camera."

"Is it in here?"

"Yes."

"Where?"

All of a sudden, she grinned widely, rubbing at her cheeks, looking as if she had the greatest joke in the world before indicating her bust, which Tony had noted was of a very nice size for one of her lean stature. "This is fake. We had to make hiding places that wouldn't be searched by local insurgents, and since I'm small in the chest department, I figured that it would be the best place to keep my passport, extra money, and the phone. Their leader, the guy who speaks English . . . he asked why one side was hard. I told him that it was a sickness from my country, called cancer." Snickering, she added, "He got his hands off of me as if I was rotting before his eyes, which isn't far from the truth in their mindset."

"That's horrible!" Yinsen half-barked.

"It worked. Already repented about lying, and got the impression that so long as I was alive and keeping basic, basic contact, everything would be all right." Biting her lip, she muttered, "It's almost out of battery, though. I think that I can make one more ten-minute call or four more texts out to Mom." She looked up at Tony. "Can they detect communications?"

He frowned, running through the possibilities, then turned and looked to Yinsen, who shrugged. The billionaire sighed. "I don't think so."

She nodded, turning the tea mug in her hands. Her voice was soft, continuing her story. "They didn't knock me out, because I was in shock at seeing that there were another few bodies on the ground and was moving fast enough for their liking. None of the victims were internationals. They were locals who were assisting us. One out of the seven was Christian, the other six Muslim. Because they had associated with us and assisted us, they were considered to be worse than traitors while within their own country." Sipping at the liquid, she formed the next few words in her mind. "There was a bag put over my head, but I could see through some of the holes. I saw landmarks and directions, but I don't know the total amount of miles that we traveled. Two women were brought with me. They split us up, leaving two of the women at the prostitute village, and took one of their women with us to here."

Tony frowned, unable to speak loudly. His voice was soft. "Was she the one screaming?"

She shook her head, not looking up. "That was me."

"Were you injured?" Yinsen asked.

"Only . . . no. Not physically. But my soul is bruised. I was screaming in protest. I was 'inspected for sexual purity.' I doubt that I have to go into detail."

There was a long silence, followed by Tony's deep sigh as he stood and set his tea on a surface, somehow knowing what to do. He walked to her, seeing nervousness rising in her eyes, watching as she tried to drive it back. But he ended up kneeling before her, not touching her, sincere in every motion, and a rising hot anger beginning to boil in the very center of his chest, locating itself below the reactor. "Nobody, _nobody_ deserves the humiliation of what you just went through. I'm sorry. For men like me, who use women and don't take the reactions into account, I'm sorry. I don't think that I'm ever going to continue the lifestyle that I had lived before. It had no meaning." He saw her tears falling again, but continued. "I'm sorry, Becks."

She looked at him helplessly, then nodded, sniffing and lifting a hand to rub at her face. Reaching up, Tony helped wipe her tears, then squeeze her shoulder reassuringly, smiling. "So you trained to be a missionary in school, huh?"

She chuckled, shrugging. "Some of my training has to do with missionary and outreach work. But helping people in general is my passion. Helping their souls and emotions heal, primarily, which in turn effects the mind."

"So are you going to try to convert me and make me live a holier life?"

"Cut the mockery out, rich boy," came her reply, but she didn't snarl it as Tony had anticipated. She was smiling. "I can't make anyone do anything. That's between you and the Creator." She chugged down the tea and sighed, placing the mug on the ground and stretching her arms above her head before popping her knuckles, then her right elbow and wrist. "So. What's the plan?"

"What plan?"

"How are we going to get out of here, that's what plan, moron."

"What makes you think that there's a plan?"

Snorting, the young woman stood, indicating the tables. "For a smart guy, you really suck at lying well. It sure looks like you're doing some serious work here, and I'm no rocket scientist, but it doesn't look like it's anything like your normal weapons mongering." She saw his sharp look, then sighed. "Look, I paintball, I have a brother in the military and a younger brother who has a genius mind for warfare and history on warfare. I know just enough that I can identify that none of what you're working on here is for your usual rocket-propelled bombs."

The room was silent for one very long minute before Tony nodded to Rebeckah. "Does your phone have a camera on it?"

Confused, she nodded.

"Time to take a picture. I know how to charge the battery so that we can keep the phone running."

"What's the use of taking a picture?" she asked.

"Proof that we're alive, and that we're still hostages," came his reply as he stood, starting to make something essential to their making it out alive: the charger for the battery. "Proof for the military to keep looking. Now go dig that thing out of your bra and bring it to me. I need that battery."

Yinsen almost burst into laughter at the murderous look on the young woman's face before she huffed and stormed to the partition around the toilet. The insurgents made quite a few horrible mistakes, which included not speaking English and underestimating Tony's mind, but so far, the worst one was bringing the woman here. As he watched her storm back out from behind the toilet area, he saw that she walked over to him, pointing a finger up into his face, moving so that she was blocked by his frame in view of the camera.

This time, Yinsin _did_ laugh at the look on Tony's face when she brazenly shoved the battery against his stomach, sliding it down in one swift movement so that it slid under his beltline and out of sight. She snapped, "I don't care how you respected women before, but by God as my witness, _never_ speak to me like that again."

She poured herself another cup of tea and took the perch in the wheelbarrow again, looking into the fire, ignoring Tony's cursing as he tried to dig the battery out of his underwear.


	3. Chapter 3

A Supremely Bright Idea  
By Sinead

_**Author's Note:**__ Midterms are over, I did decently well, and thankfully the muse for this is still running. I'll be working on it as long as I can, provided that I don't lose the idea. Chapter four is halfway done, still thinking about where I'm going with this as far as what the characters' long-term goals are._

Chapter Three

.o.

"Ow. Ow. _Ow._"

"Hold still . . . you still have dirt in the wound."

"Yinsen, you . . . ow!"

His face was set in a grim line as he cleaned out the wound on her jaw. She had been punched with enough force that it broke the skin in three places, knocked her out, and she had to lie on the ground with dirt getting into her wound for ten minutes while Raza repeatedly demanded why Tony was insulting him by ignoring the girl. Tony only replied that he wanted to get the work done, and his focus couldn't be shifted for another three days at least. He had come to the unpleasant realization about what women go through monthly, but didn't make mention of it, which his mentor and life-saver had praised him for. But he knew that they had to extend the time by even days before anything was forced upon the girl.

She wasn't a girl, though. The woman. Damnit!

Said genius was currently beating himself up internally about Becky's injury. Yinsen looked up at the man who was sulking, lying on his cot and facing the wall. Once finished, bandaging her jaw as best as he could, he looked to her, and saw that the Rebeckah was watching the billionaire as well. Standing, she walked over to the cot, using as many handholds as possible. Her equilibrium was not quite up to par, but she wouldn't accept any help from the old man in walking, getting from one place to another.

_It isn't pride,_ he noted, seeing how she paused before sitting on the cot by Tony's hip. _It's sheer determination and will to overcome. And it's not from her own soul._ Unlike Tony, Yinsen was up early enough to see her praying, worshiping God quietly while in the bathroom area, the place that was considered a "do not enter if someone's here" for privacy. He smiled, memories of younger days, of his wife doing the same. Only the language and format of the prayers were two different things. His own religion was formal, and this young woman's was more at ease yet at the same time strictly respectable of God.

He watched as she reached down, pressing on Tony's left shoulder to turn him from studying the stone wall and to face her. The left side of her face was swollen, starting to discolor. He opened his mouth, but she cut him off. "Don't apologize. If you interfered, they would have killed you." Even her words were lightly slurred with the onset of swelling. But she was alert, and all in her right mind. "Shove over. If you're going to mope on the cot, at least do me the favor of letting me rest beside you. The room's spinning again."

Silently, the man did so, but was shocked when she got her way between his arm and ribcage, resting her head on his chest. Hell, _Yinsen_ was shocked. Tony blinked, then muttered, "Should I let you get hit more often if I get this result?"

She put her hand on the center of his chest to retort, but both froze at the contact. She looked down at her hand, seeing a light between her fingers through the fabric that was stretching over an odd circle. "What . . . ?"

Stark moved her hand, unbuttoning his shirt down past the reactor, showing it to her, scared of showing it to her. She blinked once, then met his gaze. He whispered, "Explanation now or later?"

"Now," Yinsen commanded. "I don't care if she lies down, or _where_ she lies down, but I don't want her falling asleep in case of a mild concussion. I don't have any medical equipment here and can't double-check."

"You suck. I want to sleep," came the angry mutter.

"You'll thank me when you do sleep, and _wake up_ the next morning, young lady."

She didn't reply, causing Tony to chuckle. "How about I back up a few months, and let you know what they want me to build them?"

"I guess anything is good as long as you keep me awake and thinking. Just leave out your womanizing exploits. I'm not here to listen to Penthouse Letters firsthand."

"Wow, good little Christian girl like you knows about such things?"

"I worked in a bookstore. Let's leave it at that."

"Doing what?"

"Magazines. Men's Interest is the pits. I hated shelving in it."

"Not your kind of educational need?"

"Try that I don't find women attractive, and the majority of them were half silicon, so what's the point of looking at _Barbie Bimbo, Life-Size Edition_ all day long? A natural, real woman has flaws that endear her to the man who really loves her. Furthermore, why go for what the world sees as perfect when natural beauty is so much more rare and it's twice as satisfying to look at someone who is comfortable in the skin they were born in, looking just like what they were meant to without any surgery to 'correct' flaws that are beautiful?"

"Wow. You are straight as an arrow."

"Heckyes. What's this about what they want you to build?"

And with that, Tony was effectively steered towards the always-fun subject of blowing crap up.

.o.

Return to the present day. Tony saw this young lady _almost_ as a younger sister that really made his life at turns bright and happy or _excruciating_ when she got on his case about one subject or another that he really didn't feel like talking about. She nagged, she pressured him, and when he gave in and broke one day, yelling at her, seeing her not even flinch or any walls go up in her eyes, he realized that she had been guiding him all along, reading his emotions and his soul like an open book. She didn't give him what he wanted, but gave him what he needed, and that was someone to be able to yell at without any guilt at hurting them. He couldn't yell at Yinsen, since the man saved his life. He couldn't deal with the idea of hurting the man that brought him back from the dead.

But Rebeckah was perfect at taking his emotions into hand. She had the ease of someone who had done that many times before, knowing what buttons to press and the amount of pressure to hit them with.

As he stared at her in shock, she smiled, reaching up to tug on the goatee that was starting to get out of hand again. "Don't bottle your emotions up so much. They'll hurt you in the end."

"C'mere!" He growled playfully, grabbing her around the waist and swinging her into his arms to land a razz on her neck in retribution for the pushing. She _giggled_. Tony blinked. "Heh. You giggle like a two year old!"

But at the onset of tickles attacking her sides, she couldn't reply in anything but squeaks. Rolling his eyes and walking over with dinner, Yinsen broke it up like any good father, handing them plates and telling them to behave themselves at the "dinner table." Becka ended up sitting on the floor, leaning against Tony's leg while shoving the gruel into her mouth. "So smutbag here decided to hack my phone."

"Says the girl sitting against my leg. Be glad that I hacked it, okay? Their tech is good, but you need the programs they locked up."

"I'll pull my passport out again and show you my age again."

"Please do! I've only got my own mind to go on for imagery on female anatomy!"

"What, my boy-chest will get you hot, now? Wow. The depths that the great Tony Stark has fallen to."

They bantered for another few moments before a small, very tiny beep went off. All three froze before the young woman ran to the "bathroom" and rummaged through her false bosom for the satellite phone. Pulling it out, she read the text out loud in a soft tone. "DOD on way, have locate via satphone. No stupid stuff. ETA 5 days." Replacing the phone, she walked out and took her seat again, sighing. "We don't have five days."

Tony's entire being seemed to be drawn inwards. "No, we don't."

"So what's the plan, genius?"

"We do something stupid. That's how it always works. Time to start planning the exit strategy." Only his posture changed, and Anthony Stark went into a full planning mode, only to be interrupted by Raza, who almost literally threw the door open on Tony and Becky face-to-face in a soft, angry conversation about distances and directions. They looked at him, shocked for all of a half-second before they straightened, hands behind their heads.

The tribal warlord sneered at them, walking closer in his normal predatory fashion. The motion caused Rebeckah to shrink back slightly, trying to get behind Tony. Yinsen stood behind the pair, breathing softly, as scared as he could be, and for once, showing it. Raza smiled humorlessly. "Tony Stark . . . I gave you the gift of this beautiful young woman, and you are squandering it."

"There are two very good reasons behind keeping myself off of her."

"Distraction from what work I have given you?" the snake-like voice murmured dangerously.

Rebeckah sighed. "I've had my monthly bleeding."

Raza lifted a lip in disgust. "A very good reason to consider her untouchable. And the second?"

"Bad manners." Tony was gaining a little confidence. "It's been ingrained in me since college: No sex while the roommate's home."

Raza looked past them at Yinsen, considering something for a long moment. Shrugging amicably, but all three prisoners saw it for what it was: a façade. "Regardless, if you and she do not enjoy each other within the next three days, I will take her back."

He swept out, and the moment the door closed, Rebeckah sank to the floor, shaking. Tony looked to Yinsen, who mimed that the man should talk with her. He gathered the plates and moved to wash them, putting the food back into the pan for later, studiously ignoring the pair. During Yinsen's movements, Tony sat on the floor, pulling the young woman onto his lap and holding her against him, strong arms wrapping around her, holding her close to him as he rocked her back and forth gently. "You're scared."

She fingered a ring on one hand, then murmured, "I made the decision not to have intercourse with anyone until I was married to them. That decision was made back when I was fourteen. I didn't want to give away what rightfully belongs to the man that I'm going to be with for the rest of my life."

"That's why you're scared."

"I don't know you, I don't know anything about you," she murmured, trembling lightly. "I don't know what to do, I don't . . . I don't _want_ to have sex!"

Sighing, the man continued to rock the young woman, tucking her head under his and resting his chin upon her head as she cried silently. He didn't know what to say to this situation, so he kept quiet for a long time, until he found what he thought were the right words. "I don't want to be with you, either. Damn. I _mean_ that I don't like this predicament, and while I'm not saying that you're ugly, which you're not and you're actually more beautiful than most of the women I've been with, I don't want to press your boundaries. But neither of us were given much choice in this." Drawing in a deep breath, calming his racing mind, he whispered fiercely, "I would much rather respect you and your body and treat you like a lady than have you be forced against your will and be hurt by the men out there."

He wasn't prepared for the fresh flow of tears and her thin arms to wrap around his torso, but went with it anyway, still talking. Rambling. "I respect you so much for your choices, your decisions, and the way that you're wired to help people personally. My old life, I wouldn't have wanted anything to do with you, but now I'm able to appreciate every nuance. You've already helped us so much, and I'm seriously happy that you understand us. So—"

Tony's ramble was stopped as the woman giggled softly. "Shut up, Tony."

"Do you want me to let you go?"

"No. Do you know what the five love languages are?"

His mind shot back through the years before nodding. "Vaguely."

The young woman sighed, settling against him again. "Mine's physical touch."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"I now have an excuse to hold you. That's cool."

Neither were prepared for the blanket that Yinsen wrapped around them both before taking a seat on the stool beside them, reading Rebeckah's face easily and nodding at the decision made. The gentle man reached over and pushed her hair away from her eyes. This was a good lesson for both of them. Tony was learning how to protect someone, and she was learning how to trust that person protecting her.

This was a very good lesson indeed.


	4. Chapter 4

A Supremely Bright Idea  
By Sinead

_**Author's Note:**__ I know that you people are reading this! 300 hits in 48 hours! Wow! I'm having a fun time writing it, but if possible, could you also please leave a review? This is my first Iron Man story, and while I feel that I'm doing well with it, I still don't know if I have Yinsen and Tony in character. You guys helping me with keeping them in character is going to be helping me loads once this chapter is out. This one covers a lot of ground, and having been in super-stressful situations, I can testify that time seems to run faster, rushing everything together in one's mind. So if you think it's running fast, well, it is. And I was told by a close friend that I was evil for having them stay in the cave for four chapters. Hee. Enjoy!_

Chapter Four

.o.

"YINSEN!"

The yell woke all three inhabitants of the room up. It was midnight, two nights later. Tony and Becky had been sleeping in the same cot back to back after that first night, but the last two nights had them getting accustomed to each other's nonsexual touch, falling asleep facing each other, and both times with Tony holding her close as much for getting used to her as it was to comfort her and try to show her that he was going to do everything he could to keep her safe. The surgeon stood, grabbing his glasses as he listened to the frantic babble on the other side of the door. Replying in kind, he dressed himself and put shoes on, speaking in English for his two roommates. "They had an ambush gone wrong, one of the main lieutenants is injured and they want me to save him because he's useful to Raza."

"He orchestrated this to see if we were serious about the roommate thing."

"Most definitely." Yinsen agreed, walking to the door, holding his hands up and calling out a query. When there was a grunt for a reply, he grabbed a surgical bag and waited for the door to open. He disappeared.

Becka's heart was beating fast, nervous at what was going to happen, but never got a chance to say anything because the next thing she knew, Tony was leaning over her, brushing a hand over her hair, which was kept back in a braid to keep it from tangling. Her face was cupped by a work-roughened hand, but she wasn't kissed. His forehead rested against hers, and his nose to hers.

Her hands worked furiously on the ring, pulling it off.

He folded her fingers back over it, silently telling her to not let go of her promise, her vow. But she whispered, "I can't wear this while I'm breaking that vow, Tony."

"What are you going to do with it?"

"I don't know."

Wincing, he sighed against her face, feeling his hot breath reflected back against his skin. "I'm sorry."

"It wasn't your decision."

They were silent for one long moment before she murmured, "Are you going to be gentle?"

Chuckling, he moved to kiss the point where her eyebrows were furrowed against her nose. "Very, very gentle. Tonight, right now, I'll do everything I can to make sure that you're not hurt."

"Okay."

"Hey, Beckers?"

Smiling at the nickname he had given her, she asked, "Yeah?"

"Once we're back in the States . . . I'll take care of you."

"What do you mean?"

"We have to stick together, right? At least stand by each other and help each other. I don't think that I'd be able to go for more than a week without hearing you call me on something stupid that I said or did." He couldn't help the nuzzle that he gave to her cheek. "Besides. I suck at emotions and you're poor. And I want to change both problems."

Laughing softly at his bluntness, she replied, "Only materially. I'm richer than you are in other ways."

"Which is why I'll need you to help me."

Considering that, she nodded, hesitantly moving her face up to kiss his cheek, right at the corner of his lips. "Okay."

.o.

Yinsen was returned to the room over seven hours later, right after dawn, rudely shoved in the door before it was slammed behind him. He blinked at seeing the two still in bed, but wasn't shocked at seeing Tony's bare shoulders, or the way that he was holding the woman to his chest in a _very_ protective manner, glaring darkly at the door. She was awake, flushed, and looking bashful. The elder chuckled and shook his head. "When my wife and I were married for our first night, my brother came running into the room, still drunk from the reception. She had the same expression on her face." Turning, he moved to the bathroom to clean up. "The man is alive, but will never have use of his left hand again. The wound cut nerves and tendons."

The bedsheets were moving, he heard, and there was a whisper, something that he couldn't understand before water sloshed around, Tony's heavy steps moving around the room. Yinsen smiled. The boy was learning quite a lot; he was taking care of the woman first, not attending to his needs until after she was set. "I'll wait in here until you two are finished."

Neither replied, but it was an amicable silence. Almost a half hour passed, during which only a handful of words were said. Finally, Tony peeked around the partition, shirt back on but unbuttoned. His face was peaceful, thankful, looking to Yinsen with more than just gratitude, but true and honest, open willingness to do anything that his mentor needed. Seconds later, the teapot clanged onto the fireplace, and Tony turned around, seeing Rebeckah pulling a stool over to sit by the fire for the day. Even though he had been gentle, kind, and overly considerate, it was still her first time, and she was aching lightly. He had requested that she rest through the day, and she had agreed to his soft murmur.

That was when Tony realized that she was watching him, too. Grinning sheepishly, he looked to Yinsen. "They say that we have three more days. Everything is almost complete."

"Then we'd better move faster."

.o.

Tony was almost to the point of suiting up. They didn't have much more time. Raza had pulled a very fast one on them, and the three days were suddenly shifted into one twenty-four hour period. All three worked swiftly, which shocked Tony because he had never really worked on a team that knew each other's thoughts and movements so intimately before. He watched Rebeckah's hands deftly weave wires together to keep them from tangling on anything before tucking them back into the seam they came from. She looked up at him, holding her hand out.

He handed her another panel to clean up and tuck things out of the way, his fingers brushing hers. Neither blushed, but held a long glance before turning back to their own work. Three hours later, the plan was finalized and Yinsen was drilling Tony in the layout of how to exit the caves. They had insisted that Rebeckah wait ten to fifteen minutes, then follow the line of dead people with Yinsen. She blanched, then nodded at the practicality of it, and was currently sleeping. Tony had all but ordered her to get at least three hours of sleep. She hadn't wanted to. After a short snarl-fest over the issue, he merely leaned in, kissed her, and whispered, "Please."

It had ended the argument.

Once her breathing leveled off, Yinsen whispered, "You _must_ take care of her, Stark."

"I will, I promise. If we get out of here alive, I don't care what people think of my actions, but I will protect her." He shook his head, whispering, "I just don't know what role she's going to play in my life in the future."

"Why do you ask that?" They were going over the last few components to double-check their integrity.

Tony stilled his hands, his voice low. "Three weeks ago, when she came, we acted like siblings, and I know that you noticed that. I've never _had_ a sibling before. And now?" He looked at her again, sighing. "I just don't know. It's been three weeks of constantly being around her, and the only other woman that I've been around like that for is Pepper."

"Your personal assistant."

"Yeah, the lady that runs my life."

Yinsen was quiet for a few minutes before giving Tony the wisdom that helped in almost all peaceful situations. "Give it time. How she reacts out here may not be how she reacts out _there_. Back at your home. Trust me, however, when I say that it is only right for you to watch out for her. She will be doing the same for you, but in a different manner."

Tony nodded, and they went back to making the suit.

Three and a half hours later, Tony was in the suit, set up just so that he was out of sight. Rebeckah was still sleeping, but after the explosion at the door, sat up sharply. Her eyes focused just as she saw Yinsen running out the now-open door. Jumping off of the bed, she was about to follow him, thinking that Tony was already out, when his voice barked at her. "BECKA!"

That was the first time that Tony heard her curse, and had it been any other situation, he would have laughed at the look on her face and the rather unladylike word that burst from her mouth. But they didn't have time to laugh. "Yinsen just bought us time."

"He . . ."

"Come here."

She moved up, looking down at the status bar, seeing it at halfway, moving to the right not quite slowly, but not fast, either. That gave her time to be ballsy about one thing: Climbing up the front of the suit to place a firm kiss upon Tony's lips. She then pulled back to whisper, "Don't you _dare_ die. You said that you're going to protect me, and that you're going to look out for me. You can't do that if you're dead, and I can't help a dead man learn."

The lights flickered.

Tony nodded. "You know the escape route."

"When you take off, I'll be watching for the smoke line. If you overshoot the distance, keep going in that direction. I'll find your trail. Just keep moving, don't worry about me following." He didn't know that she had been trained in how to follow a trail, how to react to different climates and environments. That training was her high school major of "Natural Resources." It had prepared her for a lot of different things in life.

"Phone is charged, GPS turned on?"

"Yeah." She glanced at the status bar on the screen, then jumped down, moving across the room to hide, but paused before crouching behind the partition. "Tony."

"Yeah?"

"I care for you."

His eyes tightened, and he nodded, acknowledging that. But his mouth had other ideas. "I think that I might just love the hell outta you once this is done and we're home again."

She grinned. "Gotta marry me first, rich boy."

"We'll see about that, sweetheart."

It was desperation talking, trying to be light in a dark hour.

Their hearts hurt.

The lights went out.

.o.

She had expected to see Yinsen dead. But that didn't mean that it hadn't been hard to see the man that had embraced her fiercely upon completion of the suit last night laying without motion upon bags of rice meant for starving children. She held both hands over her mouth, passing by the dead man and the second dead man closer to the entrance, not even looking down to see if she knew him. Tony's flamethrowers were roaring, meaning that he was beyond pissed.

Rebeckah looked around, then darted from cover to cover, going up over the mountain instead of around it, hearing the fighting escalating behind her. She moved fast, used to running through the wilds from her high school athletic years of cross country running and the love for the outdoors and hiking. She was almost three-fourths of the way up the large, rugged hill before something prompted her to duck behind cover. Maybe it was the whine of metal heating, maybe it was the screams of confusion, but she darted behind a large boulder, curling up to protect her head. Hearing an odd roaring that wasn't part of the explosion, she looked up in time to see something like a rocket making it over the small mountain.

Grinning, watching the item shoot overhead and out of sight, she knew that it was Tony, and when small items stopped hitting the rock Becka hid behind, she followed the faint trail of smoke. Once at the peak, making sure to keep herself low and not to make a target out of herself via silhouette, she gasped at the sight of the desert, squinting her eyes, making landmarks and angle landmarks of what peak was where. Seeing the smoke disappear, she started down the other side of the mountain, hating that her body automatically paced itself to preserve energy.

And then her feet hit the sand. Grinning fiercely, she took on the challenge of man versus nature with both arms. This was adversity. This was what she had been bred for.

This was freedom to choose her battles.

She ran.

.o.

Exhaustion met her at dusk, causing her to slow to a stumbling walk. She estimated that their counterattack against Raza and his men had started an hour past dawn. The woman had passed part of the wreckage, stopping for just long enough to see that there was a little blood on the armor, but not enough to make her panic. She rested for a short while, her mouth dry, feeling as if she was about to fall over, but couldn't let herself stop. She carried on, following the trail through half of the night, having to stop when the moon rose above the mountains in order to sleep. She woke before daybreak, half-refreshed, but thirsty. Time to move.

Making better mileage during the two hours before the son rose than she had since starting over the sand dunes, Rebeckah heard the steady noise rising, trying to place the foreign sound. The moment she thought _helicopter?_ the actual thing flew fifty feet over her head and landed, five men running out to her as she sat down on the dune she had crested, exhaustion setting in the moment she knew she was safe. Smiling, she saw the other helicopter driving forward, then dipping out of sight not three miles away. A man came up to her, his voice rising above the whine of the rotors. "Rebeckah Fahey?"

She nodded. "Is the other chopper for Tony?"

"They just found him! Good job escaping!" He and another man helped pick her up, half-carrying her to the helicopter, where they didn't bother debriefing her, just giving her a bucket and some water to rinse her mouth out in, then spit. She gargled, then spat again, coughing sand up and dry-retching for a moment before getting her stomach back under control. She continued to rinse her mouth out, then reached for the Gatorade sitting beside her leg. She tried to open the top, but whether due to nerves or to actual exhaustion, couldn't open it. The soldier beside her took it gently, opened it, and handed it back. Chugging down the entire bottle, she belched loud enough for the men on either side to chuckle at the noise. Leaning her head back, she drifted into sleep.

_**Note:**__ Three reviews gets you Chapter Five. ;P_


	5. Chapter 5

A Supremely Bright Idea  
By Sinead

_**Author's Note:**__ To the kind reviewers of Chapter Four, thank you very much! Quick replies: Indigo Feral, I'm glad that I'm able to mix things right! Maybe sometime we can have a conversation about views on religion in fanfiction! I don't let the religion take any more role than what it already has, but it is Rebeckah's background, so it will come into play now and again, but it won't be overwhelming. BB, I'm glad and honored that you chose to read this AU! I hope that this chapter doesn't disappoint! ShallaNelprin, I hope that I keep Becka away from being Mary Sue, and I'm glad that you like her! Enjoy this next chapter! _

Chapter Five

.o.

The moment the tires hit the tarmac, Rebeckah was awake, trying to unbuckle herself. She had to see Tony! The soldiers helped her, careful not to restrain her, and then pointed to where two men were exiting the second chopper. Keeping her head down, she ran out, stumbling and hitting the ground once before almost bouncing up and continuing to the ragged, bloodied man. Stopping two feet from him, looking over his wounds, she reached up and grabbed his ear with one hand, tugging it downwards none too sharply, too weak to do anything but tug on it like an annoyed nanny. "SMUTBAG! Didn't I tell you not to hurt yourself?!"

Yelping softly, Tony grinned wearily, dark eyes haunted, and she let go, looking to the black man beside the genius, holding him up. She wavered, balance failing her now that she was able to relax, no longer running on adrenaline. Without any more words, she felt arms helping her stay standing up, seeing Tony needing the same thing. But as long as they were around each other, they'd be fine.

Seven hours, three meals, medical attention, and each having a long shower found the survivors staring at each other, sitting on separate beds in one room, mirroring each other as they didn't speak. Rhodey walked in just as she held a closed fist out to Tony, watching as his best friend shook his head. She jerked her fist, insisting silently until he sighed and held his hand palm-up under hers. Whatever was passed from one to the other wasn't seen by the Colonel. Tony slipped it into his pocket. Rhodey walked over, picking a chair up to sit between the two beds. His voice was soft, noting how numb they were, but at the same time focused.

"I'm off the records. What happened in there?"

Tony's gaze sharpened to the point of a glare, and the young woman looked away, trembling before stilling herself through will, drawing in a deep breath. Rhodey got the answer plain as day, and that unspoken answer was telling him to shove that question up a dark alley and leave it there. But he didn't leave. However, he was shocked when the young woman slid off of her bed, moving so that she was on Tony's uninjured side, half-curling up against him, tears falling. What shocked Rhodey further was when _Tony leaned back against her, looking away_.

One of the CIA people who had been questioning the pair separately and together walked in, starting to ask another question, only to get a snarled curse-filled directive to scram from none other than Stark himself. Rhodey stood, and while he didn't look all that imposing, he was angry that the duo were getting harassed by their own government for information that they either didn't know, or weren't ready to tell. The agent fled, and Rhodey looked at Tony, seeing him withdrawn.

Then he witnessed the most spectacular thing.

Tony blinked, and he was instantly himself again, complete with devilish grin. "So, Becks. I said I wanted to make mad love to you once we were free. Rhodey won't care. He actually might need the education."

"The moment you drop your pants, I castrate you."

"You want your hands on me that much, huh? Wow, wouldn't have guessed."

Sitting up to glare at him from a cross-legged position, the young woman snapped at him, "You stuck-up, no-good waste of breath, I _will_ find a way to make it painful for you whenever you decide that a woman is visually pleasing."

"That's not very Christian of you."

"Consider it a necessary evil to protect the women of the world."

"Blood work is back!"

"Go to hell!" Tony snapped playfully at the medic who had a very morbid sense of humor. "And take Rhodey with you. He needs some fun. Do you see that face?"

"What, you two don't want to go?"

Rebeckah huffed. "Been there. Been _living_ there for the last month and a half, thanks."

"Don't you two want to know the good news?" The medic seemed to love bantering with them, Rhodey noticed, taking up the free bed.

"Jesus died for our sins?" Tony grinned, thumbing at the young woman beside him. "She's told me. I'm debating about it."

"He's being _difficult_," she clarified, while the medic laughed, smacking his knee. "And a pain in my butt about me sticking to my guns." Rolling one short Air Force issue sleeve up, she flexed. "I like my guns."

Even Rhodey had to crack a smile at her scrawny-yet-toned arm. "Wow, girl, you need some meat on them bones!"

"Every Black friend I have has told me that twice over. Thank you," came the sardonic reply as she lowered the sleeve again. Wearing BDUs that were almost too large for her for pants and a shirt that almost fit too snugly against her torso made her look younger, almost like a skater-punk teen. But she looked comfortable in her skin. Rebeckah shifted her seat, then looked at the medic. "Lemme guess. The good news is that we have clear blood, no infections or viruses, and I can eat chocolate again?"

The man shrugged. "Pretty much. You're both anemic, need vitamins, and a solidly healthy diet for a few months to re-nourish your body." He smiled and shrugged, looking at Rebeckah again. "You might have a yeast infection, but that's about it. Lab here isn't very specific. We have some vitamins and antibiotics for that and they won't hurt you in case you don't have the infection."

". . . ew, don't tell me that in public."

"Lucky that we're not in public."

"Just in front of two guys, neither of which I know that well."

"Ooh, that wounds me." Tony winced, rubbing at his chest.

"How about I hit you with a cricket bat and you tell me which will hurt worse, Stark."

Grinning, the man reached over to tug on a few stray pieces of hair, feeling himself want to stare at her face, but he cut that off and looked at Rhodey. "You look horrible. Been drinking?"

"Worrying about babysitting your ass again. You sure know how to make life hard for the people around you, Tony."

"It's part of my charm."

.o.

They were required to sit in wheelchairs.

"This kinda is more than a little humiliating."

"Worse than what we had to go through?" Tony asked.

They shared a long look, and the young woman grinned. "I think that this is worse. More people involved."

"Would you two either tell me what happened or just shut up already?" Rhodey asked, looking from one to another, standing between their chairs.

"Shutting up," they chorused, looking at each other before bursting into laughter, giddy to be on home soil again, just about to stand on American ground for the first time in months. Rhodey rolled his eyes. "You two really can piss a nice guy like me off real fast."

"I feel bad for Pepper already, Tony." The young woman murmured while Rhodey went to take care of one last thing before helping Tony off of the plane. "I have to get to the hospital right away, and they won't let me do anything about it."

He chuckled. "That's because I said that they shouldn't listen to you."

"Jerk. Why?"

"Because I'll be there to visit you once things are set. Is your family here?"

Becky shook her head, smiling. "No. I spoke with Mom last night, though, and she wanted to be here, but can't afford to come."

"When is the best time for her to make it?"

"Tony, if you dare—"

He snorted. "Flying your family out here, and I have more than one house for them to stay at, isn't going to break my bank. When can she make plans to come out here, Beckers?"

Blushing, but trying to be angry and failing miserably, the young woman replied, "I'll ask her when we talk next."

Rhodey returned with another Airman, and the moment that the ramp went down, Tony stood, causing the military man to roll his eyes, but then glare at the young woman. She had already stood, holding onto the airman beside her to help her keep her balance. Tony saw Pepper and Happy standing, waiting for him, and with two ambulances nearby. Once at the bottom of the ramp, after addressing Pepper, he heard Rebeckah snarling at one of the medics before unsteadily making her way over to his side and looking at Pepper's face, then looking past her at Happy. Her eyes gentle, she looked up at the personal assistant before reaching up and gripping her shoulder firmly, more for balance than anything else, smiling. "So you're Pepper Potts."

"I am," she replied, her lips automatically turning upwards in return, eyes still red, but gentle.

"You're prettier than Tony gave you credit for, but I don't think that he was really looking beyond the skin." The younger woman was smiling brightly, and Pepper drew in a deep breath, cutting a laugh from breaking free, seeming to take confidence that _something_ was still normal about her boss.

"Rebeckah!" he snapped, only to have her look over her shoulder at him with a sweet glance. He glared back, then shook his head, a smile already taking the place of the frown. "Fine, what do you want?"

"Once things are set, how I'm going to contact you?"

"I'll drop by your room, promise."

"I'll hold you to that." She smiled and let the EMTs help her onto the gurney, looking at her hands then over at the C-17. He watched her get loaded, frowning again until he was helped into the Rolls Royce.

He wanted a cheeseburger. And greasy fries. Coke. All-American food.

And something solidified in him.

He wanted a press conference.

Time to end the reign of mistakes.

.o.

_**Note:**__ Sorry that this turned out to be so short. Ran into a bit of a block as far as plot goes, and once I realized where I was going, I knew that it would be too long for one chapter do deal with coherently. "Interval One" will be uploaded after 3 more reviews! I seriously don't ask for much, people. I know some authors love asking for 15-plus reviews to update a chapter. Three gives me enough so that there's always a tiebreaker. There will be a break after the interval while I decide where to go with the story, but I won't take too long, promise!_


	6. Interval I

A Supremely Bright Idea  
By Sinead

Interval 1

.o.

_"Miss Fahey, we found something in your blood work that I think you might want to be aware of."_

_Those words ended the old, familiar stage of her life._

_They ushered in a scarier scene._

.o.

The day after he announced that Stark Industries was no longer going to produce weaponry, Tony was marching though the hospital halls again. Pepper followed behind him, her heels making soft, hurried clicks along the floor while Happy pulled up the rear. He was perfectly fine following Miss Potts. He preferred it. He had her back, and he could watch out for her. He knew that he loved her, but he knew that she didn't know who she loved. Every time that she needed someone, Happy was there, or Rhodey. Mainly Happy. He knew that Pepper appreciated him and how he was watching out for her, but he also knew that she didn't know who to love.

She had three options.

But did one of those options already dedicate himself to another?

As Harold "Happy" Hogan walked behind his boss, he knew one thing: friendships and relationships forged in the fires of adversity tended to be stronger and deeper than any other relationship that he had ever seen. Especially with Tony. Tony honored those who fought for him and with him. Happy saved his life, Tony made sure that Happy always had a job and would have a very nice retirement; Pepper's first day meeting Tony had to do with saving him over two million dollars from a scandal that hadn't been detected yet. As Virginia Potts, a lowly accountant, had found it, saved him and the company, and shown her worth, he had obviously become intrigued, but nobody, even Pepper herself, knew why Tony had selected her as his next PA. Although, early in her new position of what she sometimes referred to as "Stark's Nanny," she _had_ argued Stark to a standstill, proving the guilty natures of two high-ranking board members.

That had been a great moment.

And now another was being brought into their world.

But what role would she play in the strange movie of their twisted, celebrity-style life?

A doctor was arguing with Tony about entering the room with the label "R. Fahey" on the door. Hogan paid attention halfway through the doctor's sentence. "—not quite stable from the shock yet."

"_What_ shock? She was fine when I was talking with her on the phone three hours ago!" Tony hissed, glaring at the man, having gotten a text from the young woman that demanded him to get to the hospital. "What happened?!"

"I'm sorry, but since you are not next of kin, you're not allowed in there yet."

"This _isn't_ ICU, Doc."

"This is my decision as the lead practitioner on this floor that she get rest."

"Beckers!" Tony called over the doctor's shoulder, through the cracked-open door.

There was rustling, then a pause, finally a snarl of, "You _moron_! Let him in or I'm coming out!"

Tony saw the doctor glaring at him, but he cut the man off. "Doc won't let me, but I tried!"

"Well I kinda need you in here _right now_, so if he'd let you in, that'd be great!"

"Pepper and Happy, too?"

"In a moment! _You first and get in here and close the door!_"

There was dead silence for all of fifteen seconds before the doctor glared at Tony. "You rich kids thinking that you know better than any of the professionals in the field! I'm going to call the police to escort you out of here." He started reaching for his pocket when the door opened, and Rebeckah, in a hospital gown and holding the back shut, dragging an IV stand behind her, walked halfway into the hall before stopping, her glare to the doctor stilling his hand, his eyes wide with shock that the still-malnourished young woman had so much fight in her.

Tony inwardly laughed, having seen that fight rage through her many, many times while they were in captivity. From the very first moments of their acquaintance, to the night that Yinsen had been taken out of the room, and through their rescue, he had seen the warrior spirit that he recognized was close in nature to Happy's own fighting spirit, housed within a body that wasn't _quite_ Pepper's, but as Rebeckah had said once, her flaws endeared her to him.

. . . endeared? Shoot. They had to talk before he lost control of his mouth and started telling everyone that he was enamored with the young woman. No . . . _more_ than enamored. _He was in love with her._ He realized that his feelings for her started the moment she had really given him an attitude for his behavior, not letting him get away with anything, beginning with the cell phone battery.

Becky's eyes were almost black, and Tony knew that this was going to hurt. Wincing prematurely, he asked, "Are you okay?"

"I would prefer to speak about this in private. But it seems like we weren't given a choice."

The doctor bristled, then glared at his patient. "You have private information—"

"That shouldn't be disclosed in public. Glad you saw it my way. Tony, in. Don't stare at my butt. You two can come in once I'm done discussing something with him." Without further ado, Tony darted into the room and Rebeckah closed the door, moving away from it and pushing the IV stand to the bed and taking a seat. She looked up at Tony. "They found something in advanced blood work right after you called."

Frowning, worrying that _he_ missed taking care of some medical issue that had to do with a promiscuous lifestyle, Tony asked, "An STD? I should be clean; I take all the precautions. I can get retested, though." He moved forward, brushing her hair behind her ear, frowning in worry, chocolate eyes deep and comforting.

The unconscious movement reminded her of Yinsen, and the loss of that man was still an ache in her chest. He used to do the same thing, treating her like a daughter, worrying over her and fussing in a nice way, a way that she never had as a child. Becky bit back a sob, but Tony's soft embrace undid her again, and he pressed his eyes to her shoulder, crying with her. They both lost someone very special, and it hurt bone-deep, driving the pain deep into the very core of their souls. Tony held her chastely, knowing who the tears were for, and he whispered, "He's happy; he's with his family."

"I know," came the cracked reply. She sniffed mightily once, then released the breath through her mouth, wishing that she had been awake before he left to have had one last hug, one last talk with the man. "I know. It just hurts."

"Yeah, it does." Tony turned the focus back to their current situation. He needed to know what was bothering her so badly that she demanded he come and speak with her in person. Her text to him had been marked as "urgent." "What did they find in your blood? Any medical issue you have, I'll pay for it. Anything. Did you pick up some subtle virus, or something?"

Her warped sense of humor kicked in again, and Becky barked a laugh. She rubbed at her face and then ran her hand through her hair. "Oh, its _real_ subtle all right. And I guess that you _can_ say that I 'picked it up' from somewhere."

That did nothing to help his nerves. "Beckers, I need you to level with me. I'm almost about to panic here, and I need you serious. I don't _like_ to panic."

Hearing the desperation in his voice, she paused, considering her next words carefully. Biting her lip, she whispered, "You know the situation and see it everywhere, every day." Drawing in a deep breath, she whispered, "You know . . . the married couple who try year after year for a child will never get pregnant. But the teenagers under the school bleachers who have sex once . . ."

"Oh my God. You're carrying my baby."

"Yeah. Surprise."

.o.

_**Author's Note:**__ Bet that you weren't expecting that one. Hope that I didn't just kill my recent popularity. shifty glances around Anyway, __**BB**__, I'm glad that you're liking the story so far. There's going to be Pepper and Becka interaction, no worries! Particularly in the next chapter. __**Redlioness62**__, yes, I'm afraid that she gets between them. However, make sure you read to the bottom of this note regarding Pepper. Please keep reading, though! There's going to be hell for that final battle between Tony and Obadiah, I promise!_

_Chapter 7 is in the works, but it's being a bit of a pain in the butt, it'll be a bit of filler to flesh out the friendships that are forming, but will continue to have more in the way of plot at the same time.. As a bit of a spoiler: Pepper will have a man before the story ends._


	7. Chapter 6

A Supremely Bright Idea  
By Sinead

Chapter 6

.o.

Three weeks had passed since they had returned to the USA, and Tony was in his workshop again, tinkering with the flight stabilizers. The test of using the Repulsor tech to physically harm something had worked with the first gauntlet, so now he had to adjust the second one. The charity event at Disney Hall had been last night. The glare was set on his face, the determination to make things _right_ making him go through what he needed to do. He put the screwdriver down and pressed his free hand to his face, feeling the heaviness of all that responsibility becoming a pressure upon the center of his chest, right on the reactor.

Two sets of feet walked down over the broken glass of the windows he had blown out.

Pepper.

Becka.

The two parties stared at each other for a long moment before the younger woman drew in another breath, releasing it and the tension of hearing what she had thought was a fight, and walked over the final shards of glass, her sturdy boots crushing the shards instead of allowing them to pierce the sole. And yet Tony's soul had been re-pierced by the double set of bad news. The hammer of Obadiah's words had knocked the pain of knowing that his weaponry was once again being used to hurt innocents.

She stopped three feet away to look at the gauntlet infrastructure that covered his lower arm, and her eyes softened and a smile forming before it was wiped off her face. Tony didn't know why she smiled. Why _should_ she be smiling? He asked her that question, none too gentle about the tone he used, but she wasn't offended. Becka smiled and rested fingertips upon the arc reactor in his chest. Instantly, he felt guilty about being sharp with her. She smiled because she was seeing the result of Yinsen's last words.

With a sigh, she looked around the room. "So. You heard about Gulmira."

He turned away and stalked towards one of his workbenches. "Pepper, the Dubai house. We're throwing a party. Invite some of the usuals and a few new faces."

Startled, she nodded, walking off to do what he asked. Professionalism was what Pepper Potts did, and she didn't know how to deal with a Tony who was unsettled deep in his soul. But she had faith that the woman who was with Tony in the cave knew what to do. Even if she didn't trust Becka all the way.

Walking up behind the man she had been imprisoned with, Rebeckah spoke. "This isn't you, Tony."

"What, the weaponry?"

"The hiding behind a façade. The party."

"This isn't small-town politics and celebrity status of being the best football player," he snarled, pulling his arm free of the gauntlet with Jarvis' help. Tony turned to look at the young woman, angry. "This is _California_. It isn't the college state or the hometown state of Massachusetts that you're used to. You can't show your true hand that you're going to play. You can't show your true face."

"Really?" she asked in a sharp tone. "So then what's this façade hiding _this_ time, Tony? Is it the pain of losing Yinsen? Is it the fact that they're attacking his village _again_? Is it anger about what Stane did behind your back? _What is it, Tony?_ What are you _hiding_?"

He stared down at her for a long moment, knowing she was pressing his buttons and all the right ones, too. She pressed the fingers of her words against the wounds on his heart, pushing to make the pain worse, but it was also a way to stop the bleeding. "If I'm at a party in Dubai, then I'm not going to be connected with what's going to happen in Gulmira."

Walking closer, a foot between their bodies, she reached up, grabbed his shirt and yanked it downwards, bringing their faces closer. Tony saw a ring of yellow-green edging around the dark nature of her blue eyes. He found it entrancing, and wanted to stare into her gaze for the rest of the night if he didn't have to go and protect people who had been wronged for so long. "You come back in one piece. We still have _tons_ to cover as far as the future goes."

"So no sex before the party?" he murmured, still loving how close their faces were.

Snorting, the mood broken, Becka laughed and let go of his shirt, shaking her head. "As always, Tony. No sex."

"Please?"

"No. We've been over this."

"What if I get down on one knee . . ."

"At this point in our nonexistent relationship, I'd take good aim and kick you in the face."

That pulled him up short. "Nonexistent?"

She stared at him levelly, then dropped her gaze, her voice lowering. "Tony, I'm not going to delude myself. Yeah, the night we were together has resulted in the fact that I'm carrying a child. But that doesn't mean that we automatically have a relationship because of it."

"And you . . . you _want_ the baby."

Smiling tenderly, she murmured, "Every life deserves a chance." Her face softened, and more beauty seeped through from her soul to the expression she wore.

"Religious belief?" Tony murmured, his hand freed from the gauntlet, moving to cup her cheek again, his words just a way to keep her talking, to keep that expression on her face of true, undiluted love for the little life that had barely even been started.

"And sensibility," she replied, wanting to pull away, but unable to dredge up the will. His hand was warm, and it seemed to reach down into her soul to warm her heart. "The process of abortion hurts the mother's body."

"I want this child, too," he whispered suddenly, but didn't move closer, even though he wanted to. He saw the tears gathering in her eyes, and rushed forward, hugging her tight. "It's okay. I'll take care of you and the baby. I . . . I promised Yinsen."

"Oaf."

"Yeah."

"Ninny."

He chuckled.

"Moron."

Razzing her neck, causing her to shriek before setting into giggles, Tony whispered, "I have to take care of Gulmira."

"Come back to me."

"Will you wait up?"

"Yeah."

"That's hot."

"You're such a man whore."

Growling playfully, Tony grinned fiercely. "I'll be fine."

"Don't lie to me. Go. I'll stay here tonight."

Kissing her cheek hesitantly, the first time he braved to do so since their rescue, he whispered, "I'll call home when I'm on the way back."

"Call me before you enter the war zone."

"Why?"

"You'll see."

"Tease. I'll call. I'll always call you when you ask me to. I'll always come when you call." He smiled, pain showing through the expression, then swept out of the garage.

He didn't see her confused tears fall, nor the smile that she wore. But he heard her voice. "You best call me, Tony Stark. You'll want to hear what I'll have to say."

.o.

There was wind rushing by him when he called. His voice was exhilarated. "Beckers!"

She smiled at the boy-like glee in his voice, and relaxed against the couch in his workshop, holding a mug of tea. His voice came over a small speaker through Jarvis, who was also sending her voice back to Tony. "Pepper said that you escaped your party via 'inviting' three ladies into your room, then abandoning them."

The tone of his voice changed, turning firm. "That was the old Tony Stark's behavioral pattern. They expected it."

"You were watching them, though." She winced at the hard edge in her voice.

"Huh. That bothers you. Why?"

Drawing in a deep breath, too late to deny anything, she replied, "Because I'm pretty much jealous of the fact that the women around you gather your visual attention."

"That really bothers you?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"Because I don't want just what we have _now_." She sighed silently.

Tony was silent for a long moment, thinking that over. "You want something more between us, but you were scared of saying that to my face."

"Partially. But that's what it boils down to."

He was quick to give her his thoughts. "Look, they really don't capture my attention. They're socialites, only they climb from one bed to a higher one instead of an actual ladder. All they want is the prestige of sleeping with me. And back when I was willing to have a different woman in my bed every other night or so, I didn't care."

"I don't and didn't consider it 'prestige,' Tony."

"And that's why I love you and can't get the image of you looking up at me with pure trust in your eyes out of my head. Or how you cried when I held you afterwards because I didn't have words to tell you that I didn't want you to feel like I was using you. I could _never_ use you, especially not for sex. You're such a deep person that to consider you any other way would be to insult everything that you _are_."

Both fell silent until the man released a deep breath. "Was this the wrong time to tell you that?"

"No, but you'd better live to get back."

"Will you have sex with me again?"

"No. Stop begging." The fact that he kept bringing it up was starting to really get on her nerves.

"So what reward do I get from coming home in one piece, sweetheart?"

She smiled, then asked, "Aside from your undying need to get laid, what is it that you really want the most?"

"But you and getting laid go hand in hand, Beckers."

"Riiiight. And I'm the Statue of Liberty. Wait. You want _me_?"

"You were right, you know." He didn't answer her question directly. "They're all Barbies; dolls that do what you want them to and look how you want them to, but none of them are real. Not like you or Pepper, Rhodey or Happy. Just silicon, plastic surgery, hair dye and contacts. Nothing naturally beautiful about them or their attitudes. Gotta go."

"Tony—"

"Love you. I'll call when I'm on the way back."

"Tony!"

"Bye, sweetie." The line went dead and had Rebeckah actually been on a phone, she would have thrown it across the room in frustration. "Jarvis, track Tony's movements and activities. I'm taking a shower. Let me know when he gets hurt and what was shot at him, will you?"

"With pleasure, Miss. Shall I tell you every detail of the damage?"

"No. Just if it compromises suit integrity and if he is physically injured from it. But knowing him, he'll want to know every stitch of detailed information of damage." She started walking towards the guest suite that Tony had insisted she keep some sundries and clothing stored. Right now, she was glad for it. A hot bath sounded better than a shower.

"Parameters set."

"Thank you. If he calls and I'm still in the bathroom, tell him that I'm indisposed and that I'll connect with him later."

"Of course."

And with that, Becky closed the door to her suite. What she wouldn't give for a professional massage right now. She pitied Pepper, who had been dealing with this for years on end.

.o.

He walked down the driveway, his steps uneven, tired. The moment that he was within the actual garage, he looked up from where he was placing his feet to see Rebeckah standing before him, her eyes looking at the armor. Sighing, she reached up and brushed at his faceplate, which opened obligingly, showing the weary man beneath. Her hand touched his cheek, and she wordlessly took his wrist in her grasp and brought him to the center of the garage, turning him so that he was facing the right way, on the mark that Jarvis had indicated Tony needed to stand on.

Her hand stayed on his armored wrist for a moment, then let go as the robotic arms that Jarvis used to assemble the armor around Tony went into action, carefully pulling the damaged Mark III armor apart, off of the man. Rebeckah sighed and sat on the ground. "So. Jarvis said that you took on an F-22."

The small, tired smile on Tony's face was enough to say it all. She smiled back, murmuring, "Welcome home." And with that, she rested her cheek on one fist, just watching the machine work, listening to Tony's griping to Jarvis about being gentle. Other than that, it was a companionable silence.

Until it was broken by Pepper's voice. "Oh my God . . . are those _bullet holes_?"

_No, they're decorational piercings,_ Rebeckah thought, glad that she caught the comment before speaking it. She would have felt horrible after saying that to the worried PA. Pepper was a fantastic woman, and after everything that had been going on recently, needed a break from her boss' antics.

Tony was silent for a beat, then spoke. "Let's face it. This isn't the worst thing you've caught me doing."

Standing, Rebeckah shook her head. "Do you need help going upstairs, Tony?"

"No, but I might need help showering."

"Is everything sex to you?"

He bit his tongue, looking abashed, but yelped when Jarvis gave his arm a particularly good tug. As he watched Rebeckah storm off, he realized that the AI was on her side. "I'm sorry," he called over to her.

"I'll talk to you when I'm calm," she snarled back at him, disappearing up the stairs.

Pepper walked closer, putting the tablet PC down on a workbench and crossing her arms, facing her boss and taking her own time watching the damage unfold. She knew that the two of them had something going on, Tony and Becka. She knew that Tony kept messing up, and had a vague suspicion of why. Once Tony was free from the armor, he walked unsteadily to a chair and sat down with a groan, the black neoprene suit he wore under the armor drenched with sweat. Pepper followed him. "Mr Stark."

"Can it wait? You're about to chew me out; I know that tone."

"It's not going to wait," she replied firmly, voice disapproving. "And neither is that young lady upstairs."

Cursing fluidly, he leaned his elbows upon his knees, looking up at Pepper before hanging his head, in pain and too tired to deal with much of this. "I know. I'm being stupid, but I can't . . . I don't know how to shut the stupidity switch _off_."

"Are you aware of how much she loves you?" Pepper walked to the bathroom and grabbed a wet facecloth, dousing it with hot water and wringing it out before bringing it to Stark, kneeling to press it against his face.

"Yes," came his muffled reply.

"Really." She clearly didn't believe him. "And are you aware that she fears you really don't love her?"

"What?" Tony's head came up and he looked at Pepper with almost-wide eyes.

The woman sighed, pulling a stool over and sitting upon it, handing the facecloth to the man and motioning that he get at the rest of his face. "All you seem to have your mind on is sex, Tony, and all you do is badger her about it. To her, sex is a _perk_ of a solid relationship that is bound in the covenant of marriage."

"It's a marriage _contract_, not a covenant. I don't even know what a covenant _is_."

"You never went to church, did you?"

"I don't see why this is important, but no, I didn't. Dad was an atheist, Mom had been Catholic. Neither really went. So I didn't go."

Sighing, Pepper pinched the bridge of her nose. "A contract has clauses expecting the original agreement to be broken. A _covenant_ is an agreement that is bound between two individuals without the intention to break anything. It's a lifelong commitment to be close with another person, not just agree to mutual terms in order to get something done."

He didn't get it. "So that means . . . ?"

Pepper's shoulders fell a notch. "Are you only able to comprehend logical equations, Mr Stark?"

The rebuke was almost like a physical blow before Pepper ranted softly to the man. "Marriage for her isn't the state where two people who _really_ love each other want to stay together for all of eternity! It's about the two people that _God_ made, that _He_ ordained for them to complement each other, have similar goals in life, and to be _partners_ in endeavoring towards their separate but combined dreams! To her, _that_ is marriage! Tony, _this isn't about you_. This is about _her_. Sex isn't the draw for marriage! Do you have any _idea_ of what she thinks? Do you know _anything_ about what she wants to do with her life? Do you know what she _needs_ to do with her life?"

Standing, Pepper narrowed her eyes at Tony, seeing that her words were making the mark. Finally, he was beginning to see the problems of his thought patterns. "She doesn't want to waste the life she has been given. She's got a second chance, and even though she loves you, and I _know_ that she does because she and I have been talking, she's wondering if loving you is worth the apparent cost of what she wants to do with her life." Releasing a deep breath, Pepper sternly rebuked, "You need to get your focus off of your needs and lusts and _listen_ to what she's really saying, Tony. Don't read _your_ version of what's between the lines; read what's _really_ going unsaid. And _then_ talk."

Tony watched her spin on her heel and stalk off, a heavy pressure resting upon his heart. Looking down at his hands, seeing the washcloth within them, he sighed, standing wearily and trudging towards the elevator.

He really was being a complete moron.

Rhodey better not have heard about this already.

.o.

"I thought that you were stupid and tactless _before_ you were captured, but damn, Tony!"

"Hi to you too, Jimmy. Talk with Pepper recently?"

Rhodey was _not_ pleased. "Get in here. I've the riot act to read to you, and I'll be _damned_ if you're not going to listen to it!"

"Look, I'm sorry about the F-22—"

"I ain' talkin' about that! Get in here!" Rhodes pointed into the office he rarely occupied. And once Tony was in there, door closed, he demanded, "Did you even _talk_ to Becka last night? How about this morning?"

"Brought her cocoa last night, and I made her breakfast this morning. And tea. She likes it brewed for five minutes, with two teaspoons of sugar and whole milk up to the brim."

"I didn't ask you if you _did something_ for her, damnit, but if you _talked_ with her."

Tony was trapped, and he looked away before his gaze inevitably returned to Rodey's. "No."

And thus, all hell broke loose.

Pepper and Happy were listening in on it, grinning the entire time. Finally, their boss was going to get more lessons on manners. It was about damn time.

.o.

_**Note:**__ Hope that you liked this chapter, and yes, it was mainly filler. I'll be getting down to a few of the more interesting tidbits in the next chapter, complete with following the movie timeline after you know what apology. I'm working on trying to get more of the humor and snarkiness that was evident in the beginning of this story back into the chapters, so please bear with me. It's tough to think up some really good one-liners in odd situations that you've never been in. Thanks for reading this so far, thank you for reviewing and watching it! It really means a lot!_

_And to one amazing lady, I'm very sorry that I ranted. There are some things that I get really passionate about, and that was one of them. _


	8. Chapter 7

A Supremely Bright Idea  
By Sinead

Chapter Seven

.o.

"There has been speculation that you've been having a relationship with the young woman who was captured alongside you in Afghanistan, Mr Stark."

The female interview host was showing off, but he was ignoring how she crossed her long legs and how she leaned towards him. He even leaned away, sitting back and looking disinterested in her physical approaches. "I'm curious to know where you came up with that information."

"A sparrow flew through the window. It makes more sense than you seeing this young lady as anything but some way to pass the time. She's nothing like your usual tastes."

_And you are? I knew that I should have listened to Pepper about pre-recording this, but I had to be the obstinate idiot wanting the glory of being on the air._ Tony grumbled silently, weaving his fingers into a steeple, elbows on the arms of the chair. "I don't see what the point of your question is."

Flustered, embarrassed that she now had to explain what should have been _so simple_ to insinuate, the woman blurted out, "She's a flat-chested boy-shaped little thing that doesn't even have a sense of style! I have seen pictures of some of her fashion exploits, and they're _horrendous_. Absolutely without any regard to the fashion season!"

The live audience was silent, shocked at the way that the anchorwoman spoke. Tony chuckled, brown eyes sparkling, "Oh. She hates dressing by the common styles. She thinks that they're rather . . . well, the word she used is roughly the equivalent of 'whorish.' And I'm glad that you're jealous. I've got a question for _you_, now. Do you know her technique for cosmetics?"

"No!" came her frustrated reply. "And nobody else does, either!"

"That's because she usually doesn't wear anything but lip balm, and only if her lips are chapped."

A few hearty cries of "That's right!" and a few whistles of appreciation came from the crowd. Tony took his turn to lean forward. "See, there's a fundamental difference between women who are like Rebeckah and women who are like you: true confidence. She doesn't need to hide behind a mask, behind plastic surgery to fix 'unattractive' traits, or a painted façade to adorn her face with color. She's the genuine thing. So overall, yes, that's why I'm attracted to her. Is she attracted to me? Maybe."

"Are you admitting that you and she really don't have a relationship?" The woman was desperately trying to cover her blunders.

Tony sobered, looking at the woman with a serious face, nothing of his frivolous nature showing. "A man who I respect greatly said this to me: 'Protect those that you care deeply about.' She and I share a unique situation, a very troubled period of time that reshaped us. During that time, there were things that happened to Becka and myself, separately and corporately, that was horrendous, malicious on the scale of being a war crime. We understand each other. Because she trusts me, I'll protect her, just like I protect Miss Potts, my personal assistant. We're friends, and right now, that's all."

"But is there the wish for something more between you two?"

"Maybe. Maybe not. I may lead a very public life, but there are some things that will remain private."

"Enigmatic."

"That about describes my life."

Turning away from the billionaire, the peroxide blonde woman smiled widely, falsely at the cameras. "That's all the time we have for today. Thank you for tuning in, and as always, look here for your best and cutting-edge celebrity news!"

"Aaaand we're OFF." The director glared to the woman. "Those questions were _not_ on the planned interview that Mr Stark agreed to!"

"Tell me about it." Standing, Tony looked behind the set, where Pepper walked out, having made notes on the entire interview. She walked up to stand one step behind her boss, who was very quietly fuming. "I won't be agreeing to interviews from this studio anytime soon."

The anchorwoman glared at Tony. "What was with the convoluted, twisted answers?"

"The audience got the message; what blocked you from understanding it?" Rebeckah walked out from behind the set, every movement graceful while she wore an ankle-length patterned blue peasant skirt and a short-sleeve top, sandals adorning her feet. She was wearing comfortable clothing. "Tony and I spoke about the possibility of you pushing boundaries, and what was fine to say on air and what wasn't. I'm a very private person, miss."

"I'm older than you!" the blonde spluttered.

"And yet as mature as a sixteen year old." The core of the tone of voice Rebeckah used was filled with sadness. Shaking her head, she looked to the man who had grown up while pondering death and destruction not even two months previously. "Tony, you promised us lunch at that great Italian restaurant."

He grinned, letting his playful side seep through. "Already wanting to break my bank, woman? Wow, you move as fast as Pepper!"

Said assistant gave a very unladylike dirty look to her boss. "I do nothing of the sort. I let you know when something is overpriced, and you buy it anyway."

"True enough." He nodded to the director, who nodded back, already on the phone with his anchor's manager and agent in a conference call.

Once they were out of there, Pepper smiled. "Would it hurt you both terribly if I had lunch with someone else?"

"Will you be in the same restaurant?" Tony asked, curious. He brushed his hand over Rebeckah's, then smiled when she looked up at him in confusion.

Pepper _blushed_. "Yes."

"So did he finally ask you for a lunch?"

"Dinner, actually, but I find it more appropriate and professional to agree to lunch since I'm still technically on the clock." She regained her cool edge.

"Nice." He held the door open for the ladies, then followed them out into the California sunlight. It was already a fantastic day.

.o.

The lunch started out awkwardly. Tony was waffling around, not sure how to say something, and his lady wasn't really helping him. There were bound to be tabloids about this being a "lover's spat." Freaking vultures. Finally, she spoke up. "Pepper said that you wanted to talk to me about something serious."

"Yes," he breathed, shoulders falling.

Sighing as well, the young woman lowered her voice. "Look, I know that I stormed off, but—"

"That was all my fault, Becka," Tony said quickly, cutting her off, eyes serious and earnest that she understand how much he knew he had screwed up. Reaching over, leaning closer to her, he rested his hand on hers while they waited for their drinks. "I really, really screwed up on that one. You're a properly-raised young woman, and I'm a guy who's crass. I'm used to those kinda comments, and that kinda way of talking and stuff, and I don't give it much thought. I got comfortable. I'm sorry. I didn't even take into consideration that just because we're both Americans doesn't mean that we have the same views."

She looked across the table at the man, then frowned lightly and tried to find words to explain what she was now feeling. With a sigh, Becka shook her head. "So are you really apologizing or are you just tossing your words around?"

Stark's gaze fell, and he drew in a deep breath, releasing it sadly. "I lost sight of the promises I made to Yinsen. I lost track of them, Rebeckah. One was to protect you, the other not to waste my life. If I fail either, I'm no good to anybody, and have lost everything that I held dear when I had nothing." He didn't wait for her to ask what it was he held dear, going ahead to speak it out anyway. "I had an amazing woman give me hell and high water when I started to flag and begin to break down, just so that I could get the anger and determination needed to complete the project. I had the singularly most meaningful night of my life."

"So this _does_ return to sex!" she snapped.

"No it doesn't, hear me out," Tony said patiently his voice tender and soft, a tone that almost nobody heard from him, his eyes pleading for her to stay. "Will you let me finish?"

Reluctantly, eyes still blazing and angry, she nodded.

"The night I spent on the floor beside the fire. I had a lot of thinking to do, a lot of reprioritizing. And when I woke up to a cup of tea under my nose, I knew that I would have to really be hard on myself to get those new priorities done. That first night was when I came to realize that I had been missing out on so many things, indulging in a lot of stuff that's only poisoned me." Licking his lips before continuing, Tony lowered his voice even more. "I need to do things the right way, this time."

"Don't you _dare_ propose to me here," Rebeckah hissed softly, eyes going wide and scared, even though Tony bet that she didn't want him to know how scared she really was. "I will walk out and get a taxi."

He couldn't help but chuckle, rubbing his thumb over the back of her hand. "Trust me, I will never humiliate you in public like that. And yeah, we have a lot more to talk about before we even start a dating kinda relationship."

"Courtship."

". . . excuse me?"

"A courtship. Oh, c'mon, don't tell me you don't know what it is?"

"You and Pepper have been giving me new words recently. First 'covenant' and now 'courtship.' Hit me with the definition."

"Dating is what you do in high school with your current infatuation. Courtship is pursuing someone with the intent of marriage. And since you've hinted at it, I'm almost sure that's what you want, although I haven't the foggiest idea _why_." The drinks arrived, the waitress making eyes at Tony, who nodded his thanks, but his own gaze was firmly set upon his lunch-date. Once the disappointed hostess walked off, the East Coast lady continued. "Tony, why do you want to suddenly settle down with a woman you've only known for three months?"

He sipped at his Italian soda, wording his answer carefully. He had done some research, but wasn't about to do anything more _than_ research upon the matter. "Your religion encourages those who are having a child to marry, unless it's an abusive situation. I have to agree, because I've looked into children's psychology on them being raised in different kinds of homes. Those who were the healthiest in mind were, not surprisingly, from homes where the mother and father were married, loved each other, loved their children dearly, and didn't indulge in unhealthy habits." He indicated towards her now-bare ring finger. "The fact that you made the vow to not indulge in lust before marriage, how you're _consistently_ unavailable until almost two in the afternoon on Sundays, and considering that you're set upon keeping the child shows me that it's through a faith that you're really able to do things. And I saw in the stats that Christian couples were among the highest to have successful children."

". . . Tony Stark, are you saying that you're going to get out of bed early Sunday mornings to come to church with me?"

"No. Well. Not yet."

"Because that would be _weird_."

Laughing, the man sat back, dark eyes dancing. "Yeah, it would."

"So you're proposing-not-proposing."

"Kiiiinda. See, I was told off rather spectacularly by both Pepper and Rhodey, and they were both right. I'm a public figure, and everyone knows everything about me."

"Yeah, they do," she replied, mimicking his earlier affirmative.

It wasn't lost on Tony. "But I don't know nearly enough about _you_. What's your family like when there isn't an emergency? Where did you go to school? Were you popular? What about college? How did your grades look? Who were your friends? What do you want to do with your life? How many children do you want? How did you dream of getting married? When—"

Laughing, she held her hand up for the questions to stop. "I think this is going to take a few days."

"Probably more, because I rabbit-trail a lot."

"And a lot of tea and cocoa."

"Are you going through food cravings already?"

"Starting to. I mean, it's nothing worse than when I have PMS right now, but if I really seriously look at you and ask you for some odd thing . . ."

"I'll ask you if you're sane, then get it for you." Tony lifted her hand up to his face to kiss her knuckles. "I'm really glad that you're in my life."

This got him a confused look, before she whispered, "I don't even know where to begin about how odd that statement is, coming from you."

"That's okay. We'll have time to discuss it later."

.o.

Jarvis was inactive, his systems going through their monthly defragment programming, having gotten permission from Tony, who was under one of his cars, absorbed in a fluid change. He had ordered dinner to arrive in an hour for both himself and Becka, telling her that he had ordered. But he needed to think upon what he was going to talk to her about over the food. He wanted to help her do everything.

His hands stilling with a realization, Tony whispered to himself, "I want this baby. Wow. I can't wait for this baby." He smiled, resting in the coolness that he had created a life . . . the wonder that he was going to be a father, and that he was going to do _everything_ he could to do the best he could, to keep his and his father's personal mistakes from being carried on to this next generation of Starks.

He went limp and just took a moment to _bask_ in the glory of it all, grinning like a fool while staring at the rather dirty undercarriage of his car. Wow.

It took the man almost five minutes to get himself back in the groove of finishing the fluid exchange.

The time passed quickly, and he realized that the food delivery should have arrived forty-five minutes ago, and that Becka would have come down with it. Pepper should have been back from the mission into the office, too. Wiping his hands off and walking to the staircase, he walked up them, wondering if his lady had fallen asleep on the couch again. She was still getting used to the pace of his world, and was taking erratic naps. He loved it, because then he could sit and watch the peace on her face. But she wasn't on the couch, even though there was food opened on the table, starting to go cold.

That wasn't normal.

"Becka? Pepper?" He heard the phone ring, walked over and looked at it, seeing Pepper's ID come up. He clicked the button . . . and then couldn't move. The phone was taken from him, his body crumbling slowly onto a couch.

Obadiah's face hovered before him. "Aah, Tony, my boy."

One half of Tony's frozen mind was paying attention to what Stane was saying. The other half was running in circles in fear, wanting, _needing_ to know where Becka was.

And then the magic words were said. "About that girl . . . oh, see, you're even more worried about her than you are about yourself. Well, not to worry, Tony, she's doing all right, considering." He was preparing something silver in his hands, and the younger man didn't want to know what it was going to do. He couldn't demand Obadiah to answer. But the man smirked. "Considering that you hid something from me. You were going to be a father. Your father acted the same way that you were when he found out that your mother was pregnant with you."

Were? He wasn't going to die. If Obi took the reactor, there was the Mark One sitting in the glass cage in the garage. He just had to get down there first, which was going to be a problem. Wait. _Why were?_

"So I took care of the problem of her carrying your child."

What?

"Don't worry, that young woman won't die . . . you will . . . but she'll live. For a while. But it was too simple to slip quite a few crushed abortion pills into her food. No heir, Tony. Can't have her actually being able to produce your biological successor."

Oh, _God_.

Then the pain in his chest was amplified by the reactor being pulled out.

Oh, God, _no_ . . .

.o.

Rhodey burst into the house, calling for Tony, finding him in the basement, turning his friend over, who awoke with a start, the first arc reactor shining from his chest. The Colonel drew in a deep breath of relief, but it was short lived when Tony spoke hoarsely. "Rebeckah! Get to her, bring her to a hospital!"

"What, why?"

"Obi just killed the baby. Drugs . . . aah, ow." He winced at moving his chest too quickly.

"The . . . wait, what?" Helping his brother-in-arms stand, Rhodey was shocked as he was shaken off. "She was pregnant?"

"I'll explain later! She's miscarrying right now! Find her, she should be somewhere in the house, and get her to a hospital!" Tony moved towards where the floor was splitting apart, stripping of his shirt and jeans, grabbing the black under-armor that was partially fabric that was also a shock-absorber, shoving it on roughly, glad that it didn't catch on his skin. Rhodey hesitated until Tony glared over his shoulder.

He never wanted to see that murderous expression on the CEO's face again. Running up the stairs, he called frantically for the young woman. "Rebeckah! Becky!"

About three minutes of his searching, he heard a low moan, and he flung open the door to the main bathroom on the first floor. And he gathered the pale woman up in his arms, wrapping two towels around her lower half to keep the blood from going anywhere. "You're okay. It's going to be okay, Becky."

Somehow, she was able to speak. "Tony . . . that man that came said that he was going to kill Tony . . ."

"He ain't dead, don't worry. He's okay."

"I can't . . ." Her voice stopped as she groaned painfully, feeling all the lower abdominal muscles cramping, tightening and spasming in pain. Groaning, she whispered, "I need to see that he's okay."

Drawing in a deep breath, he carefully brought her down the stairs just as Tony finished suiting up. "Dayum, Tony."

The mask turned to face the black man, and then it split, Tony running over to stop short, touching her cheek with two armored fingers before leaning in and kissing her almost possessively, careful of his helmet. Pulling back, Ironman whispered, "Don't you dare die on me. I'll be at the hospital once this is over, and I won't leave until you're okay."

She touched the glowing circle on his chest, then whispered, "If I can't die, neither can you."

"You got it. Rhodey: keep the skies clear." Drawing in a deep breath, he triggered the helmet to slide into place again before turning and walking to the hole that he had created by falling through his ceiling. Blasting through, he left his emotions behind him.

Going to a car that was valued far less than any of the others, but had a custom engine built by Tony himself that put the others to shame, Rhodey tucked the woman in the passenger seat, buckling her in before getting in, finding the key in the ignition, and flooring it, calling ahead to the hospital. Thankfully, Tony was already listed as family on her record from her previous stay at the hospital.

But how the hell had the lady ended up pregnant? And why hadn't Tony told him?

.o.

_**Author's Note:**__ Yeah, great place to leave a chapter at, but I'm already at 6 pages long, and I don't want to have a huge, long thing. Also, I'll be skipping over the fight, since it's going to almost be the same thing as in the movie. Just imagine an angrier Stark. Much angrier Stark. I'll update with Chapter 8 once I finish Chapter 9. Please Review! I love hearing how you either enjoy or think that I can do anything better!_


	9. Chapter 8

A Supremely Bright Idea  
By Sinead

Chapter Eight

.o.

Tony was hurting something fierce, and Pepper was all but tying him down to the chair to get his bruises treated with some ointment that she had gotten for occasions like this. He didn't want to sit still. The phone was pressed against his ear, Rhodey on the other line while sitting next to Rebeckah, holding her hand when the pain overrode the IV-drip painkillers. "Did they ID what drugs it was that Stane used?"

"Yeah, and once they did, they hooked her up with an IV with some painkiller that isn't going to conflict with these drugs. She's dozing between the bouts of pain. Chill, Tony. How are you doing?"

Rhodey was all too calm about this, but Tony couldn't blame him. The man was a machine when crisis arose. "I'm feeling like crap and I'm barely conscious. Happy's going to drive me over while Pepper sleeps. I'll sleep once I see how she's doing."

"In a chair, no less." Rhodey sighed. "Hold on." He put the phone aside while the young woman awoke with a gasp of pain, tears rolling down her face as she gripped at Rhodey's hand. "Hey, girl. Easy, now. Tony's on his way."

She nodded, sobbing once before catching it, and trying not to break the man's hand. She knew what was going on with her body, and what had already happened to the life that had been forming within her. With a whimper, she squeezed her eyes shut and held the tears back.

Rhodey picked the cell phone up again. "Tony, get here fast. You're the one she needs."

The voice that answered him was thick with tears, pain, and anger. "I'm already in the car."

The line went dead, and five minutes later Tony rushed into the room, taking Rhodey's place. "She okay?"

"Sleeping only, man." Rhodey stood behind the distraught almost-father, resting his hand on the man's shoulder. "They gave her a light sedative just after you called."

Head hanging, he trembled before holding himself together, leaning over the resting woman, kissing her forehead before resting his own against hers. His heart _hurt_. Pulling back, he folded her hand over her abdomen, walking to the end of the bed to pick up the clipboard hanging there, reading what they had found in her blood. He sighed and leaned against the foot of the bed. "What are these three drugs listed here?"

"I asked them the same thing; they're abortion drugs. I asked for information on them, which is on the sidetable. I'm worried about the combination of two of them; so are the doctors. Both have a rare event of uterine rupture." Rhodey swallowed, then leaned against the armchair, watching how Tony's face went white, then blank as he walled his emotions off. "They were shocked at the combination used, and started to flush her system before the pain got to be too much for her. They'll continue it in a day or so and want her here for observation until they're sure that she'll be fine."

"Were they asking about circumstances?"

Rhodey ignored the very quiet, dead tone of his friend. "Yeah. I pulled out my ID and told him that it was confidential. They think that she overdosed herself on drugs from the black marker, but I reassured them that it was not the case. Once they pulled up the information that she was the young lady who had been in the caves with you, they thought that the child had been one of _theirs_. Talk to me, Tony: how was the baby _yours_?"

Tony remained silent, staring at Rhodey for a moment, then looked at the drugs again. Mifepristone. Gemeprost. Misoprostol. How did Stane get his hands on them? He looked up as the form on the bed stirred, putting the clipboard back down on the hook and swiftly moving up to stroke the back or Becka's hand, his gaze soft. She drew in a deep breath through her nose, not opening her eyes as she whispered, "You're okay."

"You're not," Tony murmured, still stroking her hand. "But you will be. I'll take care of you."

"Thank you," she murmured, opening glazed, very drugged eyes to blearily look up at the man. She tried to find his hand with her free one, but Tony took her hand in his, holding it up to his face, against the contrast of stubbly jaw and smooth cheek. A tear fell, splashing against her knuckles.

It wasn't much longer before he was leaning over her form, embracing her and feeing her tears soak his shoulder, while his drained into her hair, against her face. Obadiah had done more than just try to ruin and kill Tony; he had committed a great crime that would never go answered publicly. And that was the worst part about it.

.o.

Three days and multiple medical procedures later, the hospital staff were ready to throttle Rhodey. Tony thought that it was hilarious that it wasn't _him_ that was glared at. That man was almost worse than an overprotective mother hen! Most wanted him out because he was always in the way of questions being asked, and would reply to _most_ of the questions with "That's confidential information, and you're not allowed into the room unless you're on the list that I currently hold in my hand." And once he had his uniform, he was even _more_ annoying.

Then came the moment when he _wasn't_ blocking the door from the doctors with questions, they were deferred by none other than the fact that _Tony Stark_ was in the room, talking softly with the young woman. They didn't look away from each other until the doctor cleared his throat, and the man looked up, standing and walking closer. "Can I help you?"

"I have some questions."

"Because you want to know what's become a national security issue." Tony's voice was soft but firm, dark eyes glittering. "Don't press your luck. If you're not here to do anything medical, please leave." Without waiting for an answer, Tony sat back down beside the half-awake woman, taking her hand, stroking her face with his other hand.

The doctor frowned and left, causing Rebeckah's soft, tired voice to rise up. "You said that you wanted to ask me something."

Smiling, nodding, he kept stroking her face. It should be a crime to have a complexion this clear, a face softer than a child's. "Yeah. What do you want to do with your life?"

"Finally askin' me, huh?"

"You haven't exactly been coherent over the last few days. I think you're liking your morphine drip a bit too much."

"Hah, no kidding. Talk about trippy visions." Smiling, she replied, "I don't know how to say it other than in 'Christianese.' Is that okay?"

"It's always okay. You're alive, you can talk. I'm very cool with that."

Chuckling breathlessly, the young woman spoke. "I want to reach the privileged youth of South California, to show them that it's not all about the material things."

Tony took a moment to think about that, never stopping his calming movements over her face. When he spoke, he whispered his words. "That sounds like something I could easily get behind. How are you going to do it?"

"Long story."

"I think we have the time."

"Time, yes; hot air, no." Yawning, the young woman gasped and shuddered as pain rippled over her stomach again. She groaned softly, and Tony reached around her to embrace her to him, pressing her head to his shoulder. He hated this helplessness, hated the hurt that she was going through. Once the contraction was through, she whispered weakly, "Tony . . . did you even want this child?"

He drew in a shaky breath before whispering, "With everything I am, everything that I've become, I wanted this baby. I wanted to hold him, see him cry, laugh, learn . . . Beckers, I wanted this child more than I've wanted anything else in my life, with that one exception being your hand."

"My hand?" she whispered.

"No child should have to grow up with separated parents. And I don't want any baby of yours to ever have to go through what you had to. Besides," he kissed her forehead, her temple, then carefully rested her back against the pillows, stroking hair away from a sweat-beaded forehead. "You don't let me get away with anything, and you don't hate me."

"Why would I hate you?"

"The night that the little one had been conceived," he murmured softly.

"But you . . . you showed _love_ to me that night; you didn't just do what they said without any reason. Tony, you didn't have sex with me; I could tell that you made love to me. There was no ulterior motive; there wasn't any malignant lust, and there certainly wasn't anything _but_ respect for me in you." She touched his face, then blinked and saw that he was crying. Smiling, she whispered, "Did I just catch the world's most eligible bachelor?"

"You caught me the moment you decked me in the face," he whispered thickly, trying to push the tears away, trying to be a man and not cry or get emotional around Becka.

But her hand stilled his. "Men who cry for a reason and with all of their heart are some of the most wonderful men of all. You're crying for a very, very good reason. Two, actually, I think."

"Because our child was taken from us?" he queried, giving up and letting the tears fall, resting his head upon her shoulder.

"And because I'm hurting."

"Yeah," he whispered through the tears, shuddering.

She rested her hands around his head, cradling it against her body, and sighed deeply. "I think that you've finally turned the corner of your life, Tony. Yinsen started turning you around it, but you were halfway there once he left our world. Obadiah and his actions caused you to make the final turn, and face the new direction with all your heart. I gotta rest . . ."

He nodded, then moved so that she was able to arrange herself comfortably. Taking her free hand in his, Tony kissed it, then rested his head on his other arm, holding her hand, stroking his thumb over her skin, watching her fall asleep, his mind running circles at the perception that this lady possessed, on how she seemed to know what he was thinking all the time. She could read into facial and vocal expressions like no other person ever had. Not even _Pepper_ could predict his moods, his actions. But this lady . . . he _had_ to know how she did it. It was like a new car to him; he knew the outer look, knew the engine, but until you turned the key in the ignition and interacted with the environment, you really didn't know how good of a car it was. You had to investigate how it took the turns at different speeds, how quickly it stopped, how fast it went from zero to sixty, and overall performance.

But if he was going to equate her to a car, then all the others had been Fords, Toyotas and Dodges for all he cared. She was something sleek, smooth, and with a great engine, the best timing and reaction time that he had ever seen.

She was a prototype in his world.

He liked how that sounded.

.o.

"How many children do you want?"

"Five. You?"

". . . five."

"Really?"

"Because you want five."

"Be serious, Tony!"

"I am!"

"Then how many children did you want before you met me?"

There was silence.

"None, then. Jerk."

Pepper smiled quietly at hearing their conversation, more than relieved that they were bantering again. Tony without amusement in his life was a _miserable_ man to be around. She let her mind wander to the date she had gone on last night before forcefully dragging herself to the present, standing outside the hospital door. Composing herself, putting on the professional mask, she walked into the room to see Tony with his tie loosened, top three buttons of his shirt undone, expensive suit coat tossed haphazardly onto the foot of the bed, and his sleeves rolled up. He was sitting beside Rebeckah on the bed, his head leaned towards her while they paused to look at a commentary of one of the presidential candidates.

Sighing, grumbling something uncomplimentary under her breath, Rebeckah shook her head and carefully popped the knuckles on the hand with the IV drip still in it. They had resumed to help flush the remainder of the drugs from her body, but the downside was almost hilarious: she had to pee very often, and once she was strong enough, had demanded to use the restroom properly.

Tony wished he had been present for that argument, but Rhodey insisted that he didn't.

Both looked to Pepper as she entered, and Rebeckah beckoned her closer. Curious, Pepper did so, and was surprised when she was enveloped into a strong hug. Putting the Blackberry and notebook down, the personal assistant hugged the younger woman back, smiling warmly. Once they pulled away, Pepper took up a seat on the side of the bed that Tony wasn't on, pulling her stilettos off and tucking her feet up under her in a very ladylike, prim fashion. "How are you?"

"Almost through this, I think. I've had more tests run on me than any graduate student has to take in one semsester, and they're almost done making sure that I'm going to be fine." But there was something in her face that said that she really _wasn't_ fine, and that Tony didn't know about it. Within seconds, Pepper told Tony to take a hike and get this young lady something _real_ to drink that wasn't hospital tea and non-dairy creamer while they caught up on girl stuff.

"What are you hiding from Tony that he's too naïve to pick up on?" Pepper leaned closer.

Sighing deeply, glad for the chance to talk to another woman, Rebeckah explained that they had spoken to her about the chance that she would never be able to conceive again, and the chances that if she _did_ have a child, there was a chance that it wouldn't be a "perfect" baby.

This was when Becka realized that Pepper's nickname meant something.

Pepper was _furious_.

Tony walked in, saw the look on Pepper's face, put the tea down, and walked out again with the excuse of, "Forgot to get something."

She ranted for fifteen minutes about what the doctors had said, and how blind they were to so much, and what she thought about their opinion of a perfect child.

Tony walked in again. "I caught about all of that. Um, should I talk with the doctors?"

"No," came Rebeckah's sighed answer, and she outlined the problem yet again.

The man blinked, snorted, then leaned over the recovering lady to kiss her forehead. "Children aren't robots or machines or equations. There isn't such thing as a perfect child, and if it means that we have to try harder to make a baby, well . . . I'll be glad for it."

"Tony! We've had a talk about you bringing up sex all the time!" Pepper snarled on behalf of Becka.

He gave her a hurt look before settling on the bed beside his loved one again. But his voice was anything _but_ hurt. He was speaking in a tone that bespoke of intense irritation. "Did I _say_ sex? No. I said, 'try harder.' That is a concept not merely limited to the act of procreation, but in fact can cover all the bases. See? I'm learning the rules and doing my homework."

"You're insufferable."

"That's why you're my personal assistant; you don't lie to me. Beckers, did I make your tea right?"

But Rebeckah was laughing too hard to acknowledge the man she was really beginning to love. Smiling at him, she was glad that Tony was continuing on the road that Yinsen had foreseen for him, a road of better days and responsibility.

That . . . was very cool.

.o.

_**Author's Note:**__ I'm working on some plot, as was introduced here and will be brought further in the next chapter. I'm thinking about taking a break from this story to write "Black Hawk Skimming," my Knight Rider story, or "You'll Get Used to It," which is of the same fandom. We'll see. I need to evaluate where I'm going to take this story. Five reviews gets you chapter nine, regardless of how fast I'm writing chapter ten. I usually post a chapter when I finish the one ahead of it. Hope you liked this, please let me know what you thought about it!_


	10. Chapter 9

A Supremely Bright Idea  
By Sinead

Chapter Nine

_**Author's Note:**__ I got three reviews, but just as many, if not more, story watches. I'm going to be basing the updates mainly upon hits, possibly on story watches from this point on. Thank you for reading, and please do let me know what you think of my story, regardless of your stance! I appreciate anything that can help me understand and write the Ironman universe more accurately!_

.o.

Tony carried the sleeping young woman into his house, bringing her into the guest bedroom that he had never used before. Resting her on the bed, he managed to pull the covers up around her, tucking her in and having Jarvis raise the temperature of the room and dim the shades. Over the last week of knowing that there was a high chance of Rebeckah having difficulty conceiving again, he had told Jarvis to download as many medical texts on women's health as possible, and implement them into a sub-programming category. Doctors could tell what may or may not be wrong, but Jarvis could scan and pinpoint to a tenth of a degree what was injured or not functioning properly.

He was great at telling Pepper where Tony was injured, too.

As what had become customary during the last two weeks, Tony kissed Becka's forehead before leaving the room, closing the door. She had wanted to go to her apartment, but fell asleep on Tony's shoulder on the way home. Pepper had gone ahead to see the condition of the rooms, but came back in a hurry. "Have Gustav go through there, clean it up, spread air freshener, and I would suggest getting her a fridge-ful of new groceries. I had just enough breath to find the Febreeze and nuke the place with it."

So she was going to stay with him until such a time where her apartment didn't attract haz-mat teams.

Tony went downstairs. "All right, Jarvis. Hit me with your plan."

The AI booted up the holographic display on the table, showing the female anatomy, highlighting different areas. "As you assuredly know about part of the female reproductive system, the egg—"

"I know what it does, Jarvis. Is this necessary? I passed sex ed in the seventh grade, when I was too young to even process half of the stuff that they were telling us . . . seriously. I was traumatized."

"Or rather, it shaped your view of the female gender."

"That. Was harsh. Good job. Just use that wit on other people, and not me from now on."

"Thank you, sir."

"Continue with your proposal."

"To be blunt, sir, if she remains within my scanner range for two to three months, I can track her bodily functions and assess if there will be a problem. I would prefer a five-month assessment to minimize error and inaccuracy."

Tony sat down at his computer, puckering his lips lightly as he thought. "I can't keep her cooped up here like a prisoner."

"I believe that she would disagree with that concept quite vehemently. I've noticed that she is quite independent, enjoys freedom, and prefers to not be inhibited by 'unneeded and ridiculous rules.' May I suggest something, sir?"

"You've been talking with her, too. Right. Portable scanner, with a double-use as a cell phone?"

"I would not deceive her about its functions," Jarvis warned, his tone actually something close to wary.

"I wasn't going to," Tony snarled back, cursing the AI. "You're on her side."

"At the moment, she is being more logical than you are, which is odd considering that most clinical psychological studies praise men as being logical, and women as being emotional."

"Jarvis, shove a cork in it. Give me what your ideas are for the portable scanner."

The screen came to life, giving Tony what he asked for. He grinned, and began to do what he enjoyed best: Toying with mechanics and electronics.

.o.

Rebeckah awoke in a room that was decidedly not hers. It smelled different. Opening her eyes only to yawn and squeeze them shut again, she relaxed on the soft bedding. The familiar whirring of the air vents, the smell of the sheets and blankets, and once she opened her eyes, she saw the vista of a beautiful ocean through dimmed windows. The sight of the ocean filled her eyes with saltwater, and she let them drip down onto the pillow silently.

She heard the door open, something set down, then a weight joined her on the mattress, a familiar smell of man, car engine, and subtle cologne washing over her, and the strong arms of the man that smell belonged to wrapping around her.

He held her together as she cried, not showing any other affection other than keeping his arms around her, resting his face against the back of her head. He held her heart together, it felt, as they tried to return to what would become normal. But California was anything _but_ normal to her. "Tony, I want to go home."

Tony winced very lightly, and subconsciously held her closer. He sighed through his nose. "I have someone cleaning out your fridge and restocking it. They should be finished cleaning it by now."

"No, _home_. Not the apartment."

God. She meant she wanted to go back across the country. No. He couldn't deal with her gone . . . she was one of the only things keeping him sane, together. She knew his mind better than Pepper did, and knew his heart. Nobody else understood his heart.

"You really hate it here?"

She trembled, and Tony's question was answered. He closed his eyes quickly, doing the best that he could to not cry. He needed to _understand_. "Is it because of what just happened?"

Nodding, Rebeckah drew in a shaking breath. "I need my Mom . . . I need my family. I need to be home for a while."

Stark was close to breaking. He was the cause of his father-figure's death, he was the cause of so many _problems_, and now it was driving everyone away from him. Pepper was happily and quietly having a relationship with Hogan, and didn't spend her free time fussing over him like a much-older and wiser sister. Her free time was spent with the man she might marry. And now he was pushing Rebeckah away as well. But it was her choice to leave. It was her choice, and there wasn't anything he could do about it.

"When do you need to go?" he whispered, trying not to show how much it was breaking his heart.

"I-I think as soon as I can."

"Can I bring you home?"

She shook her head, driving the stake of pain deeper into Tony's heart. "I need to do this by myself."

"Will you let me pay for your tickets?"

"Tickets?"

"Open-ended. So that if you ever want to come back, you just need to call it in."

She thought about that for a long moment, then nodded. Tony sat up, and whispered, "Brought you tea, Beckers."

"I'll . . . I'll have it in a moment."

"You need to be alone."

"Yeah."

"Okay. I understand."

Tony left the room, made it three steps before his vision went blurry and his legs felt weak. He kept one hand on the wall to support him, the other over his face to keep any sobs from drifting back over his shoulder to alert Rebeckah that he really wasn't "okay" with this situation. Once he was in the basement, his refuge, he locked the doors and fell to his knees behind his couch, sobbing brokenly into his hands until he was hoarse. He didn't know that Rebeckah had followed him five minutes after, and that she sat on the stairs, watching him cry, unable to get to him, the tears streaming down her face. Pepper found them there fifteen minutes later, no change in their postures.

She took care of Rebeckah first, getting her upstairs and curled up on the couch, a comforter around the trembling shoulders, a mug of strong cocoa with mint in her hands, her face dried, a comforting kiss placed on her forehead, and the promise given that things would get better again. Pepper smiled and then turned to face the staircase back to the workshop.

When she got into the workshop, having to actually convince Jarvis that their boss was injured on a more ethereal level, Tony was still bent, but this time in exhaustion, breathing shakily but deeply. Grabbing a blanket and wrapping it around his back, helping him sit against the couch, his back supported, Pepper tucked the blanket around him, her gaze unexpectedly soft, worried. "What happened, Tony?"

His face crumbled and he strove to find the strength within him that had held together the last few days, the strength that had him being strong for Becka. He didn't find it, but found the ability to speak. "She's leaving."

As someone who had been employed and worked very personally with Anthony Edward Stark, she knew what undid him the fastest and worst. The first was betrayal. The second was if someone he cared about left. He hadn't climbed back into a bottle since returning from Afghanistan, but the personal assistant had no doubt that this could well push him back into his bad habits.

Drawing in a deep breath, Pepper asked, "Why?"

He only shook his head.

"You don't know or you don't understand?"

"I don't understand . . . I thought that I was doing things _right_, Pep. I thought that I was finally on the right track to being the man she needs."

"Needs or wants, Tony?"

"I don't know," he replied brokenly, holding his head in his hands and weeping. "I don't know."

Drawing in a deep breath, the PA rested her hand on the top of Tony's head, stroking her fingers through his hair, trying to comfort him. He was still a hurting child sometimes, just like everyone is when they're hurting on a deep level. He curled his head down closer to his knees, his chest hurting from the length of time he had been crying. Pepper noticed this, and tipped his head up, angling his face to look at her evenly. "If you resort to drinking and womanizing over this, Tony, so help me, I will help her bury you. C'mon, up. Get on the couch and sleep. I cleared today and tomorrow as soon as I saw that something was up. You need to rest. I don't care how responsible you think that you are, if you can't keep yourself from recognizing that you're pushing yourself beyond your limits and need rest, you're no good to anyone and you'll only make them worry and hurt over you hurting."

"Don' wanna hurt 'er," he mumbled, agreeably standing and getting to the couch, where he sat down before lying across it, head on one of the pillows. A second blanket made its way around his legs, tucking his feet in.

"I know. And you won't be alone in missing her, and if you feel that you need to drink your sorrows away, call me or Rhodey, okay? He won't let you drink over this." She dimmed the lights, turned on some soft instrumental music for him to sleep to. "I'll stay tonight."

"Hogan won't like that."

"Then he'll come, too. And Rhodey."

"Okay."

Closing the door, she commanded Jarvis, "Activate the locks on all the liquor cabinets. I will use the code 'clear horizon' to indicate that the alcohol ban in this house is lifted. Acknowledge."

"Yes, ma'am," the computer replied. "Should there be a secondary override?"

"Yes. I'll set that up later." She walked back over to the couch, sitting down beside Rebeckah and taking up the work for the afternoon, most of which was watching stocks and replying to emails.

"He's devastated."

Pepper didn't smile. "Probably. His core fears are rejection and abandonment."

"I'm not abandoning him."

Smiling and setting her things aside, Pepper whispered, "But you don't know when you're coming back. To him, you're already gone without even saying goodbye."

Sad blue eyes dropped, her gaze going down to the cocoa again as she shook her head. Pepper sighed and smiled, resting her hand on Rebeckah's. "Tony can't always need rescuing from other people. He's relied upon that for so long that it's ingrained in him to fear being alone, without support. I think that he'll mature a little while you're gone. The fact that he didn't all but order you to stay is almost a miracle, you know that? He can't stand being alone, despite the fact that he has never had someone else truly close to him. Why else do you think he created Jarvis?"

Nodding, the young woman rubbed at her face. "So you're arguing my case with him?"

Virginia "Pepper" Potts paused, then looked at the other woman. "There was no argument. He's going to let you go, and knows that it's hurting him but he wants you to be happy more than he cares about himself right now."

Looking down at the now-lukewarm drink, Rebeckah murmured, "He loves me that much."

"Yeah. But you take the time you need. You're the one we're worried about right now. Tony can and will recuperate, or at least make an attempt to bounce back. It's going to be okay." She smiled gently.

Having been in a cave with the man for almost two months, seeing how he dealt with Yinsen's passing and the early termination of a pregnancy both of them wanted to see result in a healthy baby . . . Becka knew that it was going to be anything but "okay" for a long while.


	11. Chapter 10

A Supremely Bright Idea  
By Sinead

Chapter Ten

.o.

_This time I wonder what it feels like  
To find the one in this life  
The one we all dream of  
But dreams just aren't enough  
So I´ll be waiting for the real thing.  
I'll know it by the feeling.  
The moment when we´re meeting  
Will play out like a scene straight off the silver screen  
So I`ll be holdin' my breath  
Right up to the end  
Until that moment when  
I find the one that I'll spend forever with_

_`Cause nobody wants to be the last one there.  
'Cause everyone wants to feel like someone cares.  
Someone to love with my life in their hands.  
There`s gotta be somebody for me like that._

_`Cause nobody wants to go it on their own  
And everyone wants to know they´re not alone.  
Somebody else that feels the same somewhere.  
There`s gotta be somebody for me out there._

"Who the _hell_ chose that song to be on my playlist, Jarvis?!" Tony rolled out from under his car, a glare on his face for the computer screen. But he couldn't stop it from playing. His frustration compounded upon heartbreak and he ended up in a chair, choking sobs debilitating him. He _hated_ that the song repeated itself, that he couldn't get his emotions under control.

The door opened, the music for once not lowering. And soft, female hands, ones that he knew had replaced the ARC reactor, rested on the back of his neck, rubbing softly along his back and shoulders. He stilled them with one of his own hands, deep breaths shaking his torso and shuddering through his frame. "Pepper . . ."

"Yeah?"

"If I hadn't known that my life would fall apart if you were gone from it, I would have fired you for putting that song on."

Laughing softly, she handed him a wad of tissues, and the song faded out. "You know, I'm glad that I don't have to worry about you firing me."

Tony blew his nose, sighing. "So who ratted me out?"

"Jarvis, and last night Rhodey said that you were putting a front on. He sees right through you, Stark."

He nodded, rubbing at his face. "Yeah." Looking up at the ceiling, he drew in a deep breath. "Have you spoken with Becka recently?"

"Last night. She's afraid to call you."

"Hah! Me? Why's she afraid?"

"Because you'll beg her to come back."

That shut Tony's sudden nonchalance up. He blinked once, then swallowed and looked away from the ceiling, focusing anywhere but on Pepper, rocking a little in the desk chair he had settled in.

"And it looks like you wouldn't fall far from her prediction," Pepper said with a very tender tone, smiling and sitting on the desk itself. It was the one surface that Tony kept clear at all times. "Level with me, Tony."

"You're here late."

"Happy has a guys' night out, and told me that I should take care of you. Now talk with me."

Tony rubbed at his face and then sighed. He drew in a deep breath. "I wouldn't be able to keep from crying and begging her to come back. I feel like I'm constantly without the reactor in my chest because she's not here."

"Jarvis says that you have been having night terrors."

Cursing fluently, the man nodded, hiding his face in his hands. He hadn't wanted anyone to know, but Pepper would never tell another soul about him. "Yeah."

"Can I help in any way?"

He didn't preamble, listing them off in a deadpan tone, disconnecting from all emotions. "Yinsen's death; Yinsen living only to get lost in the desert and die; the terrorists raping Becka; the terrorists forcing me to rape Becka; Becka getting lost in the desert; Becka bleeding out because of Stane's drugs; Becka dying in the hospital because of a uterine rupture. The list goes on, Pepper."

"You fear for her."

"God, yes."

Pepper thought about that for a moment before asking, "Do you fear that she doesn't want you in her life?"

The angry tears that sprang to Tony's eyes confirmed that.

"Do you want to know what she's been telling me?"

"What, that she doesn't care anymore? That some ex of hers suddenly decided to pay her the attention that she really deserves, and that she's falling for his façade? That she's over me?"

"Do you want to hear me or not, Tony?" Pepper said firmly, cowing him into nodding and getting a grip on himself. She nodded once, slowly. "She misses you more than anyone else in her life other than her mother. She misses you so much, and I hear it in what she doesn't say to me." Pausing for breath, Pepper asked, "She almost asked me something last night, but didn't get to it."

He shook his head to answer the unasked question. Becka could have wanted to know about _anything_. Biting his lip, he asked, "Could . . . could you give me some privacy for a while?"

"Sure. I'll be upstairs. Dinner's ready for you. I ate with Happy before he went out."

Nodding, he watched her walk to the door, then called out, "Pepper?"

"Yes?"

He smiled as brightly as he could, but the sadness around his eyes couldn't be erased. "I'm very happy for you and Hogan."

And the only thing that crossed Tony's mind when his PA had murmured a soft "thank you" was _Dear Lord, Pepper blushes?!_

.o.

A nightmare had awoken Becka sometime around midnight, so she stayed up for a while, reading the book of Revelation in an hour and a half. Most people would have questioned her sanity after such a disturbing scene that had played out in her subconscious, but somehow, the imagery of the last book in the Bible calmed her. Weirdest thing ever, but it worked. It was almost one of those things where one realized that while things were bad in her mind or in the world right now, they weren't _that_ bad.

She finished reading, closed her small, worn Bible, and set it beside her bed again, rubbing at tired eyes. She roughly had one nightmare every three nights, and it was starting to wear down on her. Half of it was due to the distinct possibility that she was dealing with not one, but _two_ cases of post-traumatic stress, and the other half was that she wasn't around the one who could protect her from the nightmares.

Maybe it was all just catching up with her.

Her phone buzzed. It was one of the video models that Tony loved and had hacked with glee. Flipping it open, she got the visual of Tony's face, red eyes, and half-distraught look. "Oh, hun, you've been crying."

Of course, that set him off again.

Five minutes later, Becka herself shedding a few tears, Tony was calm enough to talk. "I miss you. I miss you so much."

Her heart constricted within her chest, and she nodded wordlessly, agreeing with him. Drawing herself together, she asked, "How are you?"

"Truth or half-truth?"

"Truth."

"I feel like I've been mauled by Iron Monger without my armor around me." He sighed, then blew his nose. "I have night terrors. Do you get those?"

"Not every night, but often enough. Three times a week, sometimes, usually twice." Becka shrugged, taking the opportunity to look at his face, seeing every line, every worry, the stubble that had grown. "They're about you, about the hospital . . . did I ever tell you that I hate hospitals, and hate even visiting someone in them unless it's the maternity ward or a family member is dying?"

Tony's face cracked into a small smile. "No. Is that why you hated being alone in there?"

"Yeah."

"I'm glad that I didn't leave much."

"Me too."

"I wish that you were here."

Biting her lip, she whispered, "Please don't beg me to come back."

"I won't. I promise. But . . . I just have to put it out there, you know? I wish that you were here."

Rubbing at her face, she didn't want to give him an easy way out. The man was made of money, and could do anything. She needed to be at home, and the rich California kid could figure out on his own that he could come here if he so desired. "I can't come back yet, Tony. California's beautiful, but it's no Massachusetts coastline."

"I know. And I'm not your mother. I totally get that."

Biting her lips, trying not to laugh, she failed miserably, giggling softly. The mood cracked, Tony chuckled, pulling the screen to his face and kissing it once, then wincing and wiping it off. "Wow, I'm not doing that again. Slobber on the camera isn't good. Can you see me?"  
"Yes, and you should shave."

"You don't mind me scruffy. You _like_ me scruffy."

"I like your goatee. Mountain-Man doesn't appeal to my aesthetic tastes."

"Did you find the ring?" Tony was masterful at changing conversation topics without warning.

Biting her lip, she nodded, pulling the necklace up from her bedside table and holding it where he could see it. It was one of his class rings, one that he wore often while in public. Tony smiled and whispered, "You left yours with me . . . so I wanted you to hold onto something that means a lot to me, too."

"This is your MIT ring, though," she replied softly. "You said that you really didn't like MIT."

"No, but it was through their training that I was able to create the ARC reactor."

The pieces clicked, and she clutched the ring in her hand. This ring meant the beginning of who Tony Stark was. Her ring was the same for her. He trained in the realm of intellectual studies, she trained in studies of the heart and soul. "Oh."

"I love you," he whispered.

"I love you too. We both need sleep."

"I hear you. Did you want me to sing you to sleep?"

Tears sprang to her eyes, and she nodded, the light from the streetlamps outside streaming into the window as she turned her light off. Settling back in bed, she propped the phone up so that if she fell asleep before Tony signed off, it wouldn't fall over. His light baritone started singing, wrapping her up in a cocoon of familiarity.

Tony watched as she drifted off after three minutes, showing how tired she really had been. Smiling, he cut the connection, sitting back and looking at his computer screen. With a sigh, he stood, walking to his bed. He had an early start tomorrow.

.o.

Meara Fahey, a sensible Irishwoman who had raised three children on her own, didn't expect that while taking the trash out, she would see a man in an expensive suit pacing back and forth in front of her house, pausing to say something to his chauffeur, who would either nod or shake his head, causing the first man to pause, take that in, then continue pacing. Finally, she caught a look of his face, then smiled, putting the trash down and addressing him.

Fifteen minutes later, Meara called her daughter, waking her up. "I have my hands full with laundry! Could you get the door?"

"Mm-hm," came Rebeckah's sleepy reply. She put jeans on, walking to the door sleepily, shoving on a sweatshirt over the raggedy shirt she wore to sleep in. She yawned, rubbing at her eyes. She opened the door, blinking at the flowers in her face. They were roses, red, white and pink, with baby's breath surrounding the stems. She wavered on her feet before focusing on the man who was holding the flowers to her. "Tony!"

"Brought you your morning tea."

Blushing, she accepted the flowers, letting him in and seeing Happy and Pepper behind him. And her mind woke up one bit further. "MOM! You set me up!" Hearing her mother's laugh, she smiled and shoved Tony further into the kitchen. "Well, come on in, you two. Unless you have plans?"

"No."

Meara walked out of the laundry room with breakfast, which Tony had gotten from a breakfast place not too far from her house. He smiled and leaned in to kiss her forehead. "Do you mind that I came over unannounced?"

"Are you going to waste money by flying back and forth all the time?"

"Nope. I'm doing one week in California, one in New York City for a while, but might up my time here and lessen it there. Either way, it's half business, half the pleasure of spending time with you."

"How long is that while?"

Tony pulled the chair out for the young woman, glad that he had spoken with her mother earlier. His smile was bright, and Pepper noticed that the pain and strain that had been evident over the past week and a half was gone from his face. When Rebeckah sat down, he whispered, "Until we're able to decide what direction we want to go in for the future."

"Tony?"

"Mmhm?"

"Don't use me as an excuse to waste jet fuel."

.o.

_**Author's Note:**__ Song at the beginning is "Gotta Be Somebody" by Nickelback, it kinda turns out like it's the theme song of the story, but at the same time . . . isn't. It's weird. I enjoy it. Great song. YouTube it. XD_


	12. Chapter 11

A Supremely Bright Idea  
By Sinead

Chapter Eleven

.o.

It was a beautiful day, a Saturday, and Tony had given Pepper and Happy a day off while he, himself hid from the public and spent the day with Becka and watched movies. It was fall, and the leaves were changing. Happy turned away from the Dunkin' Donuts counter, handing Pepper her coffee laced with an espresso shot and splash of French Vanilla flavoring. She sipped it carefully, smiling at the rich taste. "You know, I almost like this as much as Starbucks coffee."

"I like it because it doesn't burn a hole in my pocket," Happy retorted, but smiled anyway. He knew that Pepper was paid more than he was, and that was a given. She had to nanny Stark all the time, organize everything, keep him in line, smooth over all rude remarks, and pretty much just cleaned up after the man in all ways save for physically. That is, unless he was lost in his workshop and it was time for a meeting, conference, or a black-tie event.

Virginia Potts smiled up at her date as he switched sides, walking so that he was between her and the road, his hand tracing along her lower back as he did so. Even through the layers that one had to wear to ward off the Autumn chill, Pepper felt the warmth that he radiated almost as if she were wearing a single shirt on her torso.

Happy smiled back at her, then let his hand brush hers before taking it, weaving his boxer's-fingers through her dainty ones. "I love how tiny you are."

He also loved her blush.

"Think that Stark will still be coming up here during the winter?"

That got her mind back on track, and Pepper shrugged, looking up at Hogan as they entered the Boston Commons, passing by a bronze fountain that was drained and dry for the upcoming winter season. "I don't know. He's very serious about Becka, and he seems to really want to connect with her family as well." She grinned. "Her brother in the Air Force isn't to happy about him. Rhodey heard about this kid, and wants him on his home-turf team."

"Good. That means that she'll have family around." Happy gave into a rare smile, one that he saved for "off-duty" days. He liked Becka. She was down-to-earth, quite mature for her age, gave a good fight, and he had seen her reactions. He had also spent time with her while Tony and Pepper were in a meeting. Behind one of the Stark Industries buildings, they had enjoyed a brief, playful scuffle.

He hadn't know that she had been pregnant until that evening, when Stark had reviewed security tapes, then called him up to chew him out.

Still, that had been a fun day. He had a bruise from an elbow-jab that she had delivered for weeks after the fact.

"So you too, huh?"

"Me too, what?"

"You think that they'll end up together."

"Don't you?"

"Of course."

"So then why the doubt on your face?"

The woman paused in speech while they strolled by what was called the "Frog Pond," seeing a team set up walls around a portion of it. With a sigh, she whispered, "I don't know. I know that they're a great match, and that they were determined to make things work when Becka was carrying Tony's baby, but I just don't know how the stress of losing the child, not to mention the stress of the circumstances around the loss of the baby, is going to affect their relationship."

"Stark loves her more than anyone," Hogan said seriously, his voice soft as he looked down at his Pep. "Rhodey and I spoke, and he knows that Tony would do anything, literally anything, even closing down Stark Industries altogether, so that he could focus on Rebeckah, and on loving her."

Pepper nodded. She had seen that, too, and she had seen more. Rhodey didn't get an emotional Stark walking up to talk, trying to say something but then seeing something that reminded him of something that he never shared, and the expression on his face was as pained as if someone had pulled the entire arc reactor out of his chest. He'd turn around, then send her a text about what he had come up for. "He would do anything."

"Even give up his pastime?"

Snorting, Pepper grinned. "Who are you kidding, Happy? Nobody could stop Tony from going up into the skies."

"Right." He chuckled, and nodded towards the Frog Pond. "I asked that because I want to take you ice-skating. And I want to see how Stark does on something completely out of his element."

"He went to MIT, Happy. It's less than three miles away. I think he's been ice-skating before."

.o.

Two months later brought Christmas. Beautiful lights. Warm, non-alcoholic drinks. Cheerful giving. Delightfully romantic moments of holding someone you love while watching snow fall. _Winter._ Cold, chipper mornings with amusing grumbles of Northeastern tempers upon finding their cars snowed in. Snowball fights.

Ice.

Why _ice_?

Tony knew that everyone was watching him. He was in the public, in the cold, Pepper and Happy behind him, Rebeckah beside him, her mother and youngest brother with a few other families from her church to his immediate right. They were waiting for the Zamboni to finish smoothing the ice off. There were people snapping pictures of him and Becka, and she was grinning almost fiercely.

"Why ice?" he whined softly.

"Because you agreed to come out and spend the day with me and my family and friends. You know, to let them get to know you. They don't care about the photographers and media."

"But . . . ice . . ."

Snickering, the group around Tony who had met him two days before were given the all-clear to go out on the ice. Tony had just enough time to see his lovely lady friend gracefully slide a few feet away before he found himself on his butt, wincing. And as Rebeckah turned back around to laugh and help him away from the entrance, he saw flashes going off on all sides. Great. Just great. This entire misadventure would be recorded in OK Magazine, People, US Weekly, and all the other gossip magazines that loved his face.

Well, at least this would contribute to him not being graceful enough to be Iron Man.

He just didn't want to be as clumsy as any theoretical Clark Kent. _Some_ grace should be retained. Hm. Dancing at social functions should suffice. Ice was understandably difficult to be graceful on. Unless you were freakishly good at being in charge of minute changes in balance. Freaks. He hated seeing figure-skating competitions. Those people just weren't _human_.

Wincing, he got back to his feet, holding onto the wall and almost sliding over it into the rather buxom chest of a redhead. Becka ignored the all-too-happy woman, leaning casually against the wooden boundary, smiling at Tony as he pardoned himself, tried to stand up, and wobbily managed to stay on his feet. He glared at Happy and Pepper completed a first lap, moving smoothly beside each other. "Becka, I have _never_ gone ice-skating before."

"You were here for MIT, and you never made it onto the ice?"

"Why do you think that I settled back down where Dad started Stark Industries? It's _warm_. I hate the cold."

She grinned. "Better get used to it if you want to catch me." And with that, she darted off, weaving between skaters expertly, leaving Tony's jaw dropped at the show of her own daredevil side. He moved away from the redhead who was trying to get his attention, and managed to get a few feet farther before coming to stop beside Meara. "How does she _do_ that?"

Rebeckah completed another lap, the third since speaking with Stark, reaching out to touch her mother's outstretched hand in a silent "I love you," then picked up speed again. Meara smiled. "Did she tell you that she had taken ballet when she had been four?"

"No."

"Or that she loves watching someone dance and loves to dance on her own?"

"Nope."

Chuckling, Meara explained, "She's always been graceful. Always had a dancer's physique and form, and always held herself in a way that some dancers do."

"Happy said that she moves like a martial artist." He made a face at Pepper and Happy, both of whom made a face in return. If he was going to be miserable on the ice, shouldn't they? "Isn't that similar?"

"Very. Most people who study Asian martial arts have the same stature as a dancer, and most move very alike. Graceful."

"So then you were a dancer," he surmised.

"Actually," Meara said with a chuckle as she pushed away from the wall, her five-foot-one frame moving easily. "I was both." She joined her daughter, who obligingly slowed down for her mother, and they skated together.

Tony took in a deep breath and started away from the wall again, only to have his arms held onto by two men and he found that he began to skate _much_ faster than he planned to. Looking to his right, he saw Happy, and to his left, Rebeckah's younger brother, who was sheerly _massive_ for his age of fifteen. The kid was pushing six feet and was pure muscle. Kaelan Fahey was a blonde, blue-eyed kid who loved to have fun.

Crap.

"Skating lessons, sir," Happy said with a deadpan face.

"I could very much come to hate you for this, Hogan."

"It wasn't my idea, sir."

". . . I hope that I don't break any bones. I won't blame anyone for myself and my own inadequate balance on something that should never have been stepped on in the history of humankind."

But then he was moving on his own, carefully, and the fear of falling wasn't quite so bad anymore. His arms were released, and when he felt that he was about to fall, a small form took one hand, held it up, and righted his balance with _just_ the right amount of tilt . . . all while skating backwards. Dark chocolate eyes widened in shock. "Becka!"

"You just tell me if I'm about to run some poor kid over, okay?" She grinned, still holding his hand and skating backwards. "Center your balance between the ball of your foot and the arch. Don't lean on your heels. If you lean on your heels, you'll fall backwards. If you lean on your toes but aren't planning on going fast, you'll fall forwards."

"You have this down to a science, don't you." But he did as she said, finding that his balance was immediately better. "Holy hell . . ."

"Hell isn't holy."

He muttered a smiled "I know," before frowning. "How do I move forward?"

"Push your foot to the outside _gently_ and _smoothly_. Have you ever gone rollerskating?"

"Same concept?"

"Except you need to exert more muscle control, generally from your core muscles."

"Okay." He slowly began to do as she said, then asked, "So why didn't you help me with this before speeding like a maniac around the rink?"

"Because you need to learn how to fall before you can learn how to fly."

Tony found his feet to be very, very interesting, and he looked at how he was moving them, silent while he processed that information. After a very long moment, he looked up and saw the shining blue eyes smiling kindly at him. He couldn't help but smile back. "So what do you think will happen?"

"Tabloids are being written about you proposing to me on the ice, probably. You know that they're thinking it will happen."

"Naaah. Too anti-climatic right now. There has to be some real huge fallout between us, and then we'd have to get back together . . . I don't feel like fabricating that story over the course of a year."

"But isn't that outcome inevitable because of the 'fact' that I'm having an affair on the side with Iron Man?"

He winced. Yeap. That had been his fault. "Sorry about that one. But you know that I wanted to see you and you were on the way back home from that terrorist hostage situation in Syria."

"Thank you for calling me before and after the mission." Rebeckah's tone was dry and vaguely annoyed that Tony had forgotten about his promise to do so.

Likewise, he winced. "Please, Beckers, I'd love to have a great time out here today . . . I rushed to get there and back, and was reviewing strategy on the way there, and I was sleeping on the way back."

She was silent for a moment, then led Tony around the corner, movements slowed in her thought. "But I can't really argue. It's a cute picture of me leaning out the window to smile up at you."

Tony laughed before reaching up to touch the cold tip of her nose with his free hand. "You're cute when you wake up."

"I know."

"How?"

"My roommates in college always told me that I was very cute when I woke up and was confused. They insisted that my husband would love that part of my behavior when I got married."

"When you're not cute, you're beautiful and graceful and amazing."

"Your flattery will not work on me, Stark!" came the laughed and strong reply as she paused beside the wall, letting him rest after making that lap.

"Are you insinuating that he's trying to bribe you for something?"

Both turned away from the rink to look at the woman who addressed them. Unfortunately, Tony tuned too fast, and his feet went out from under him. Having been around one too many newbies on the rink before, Rebeckah instinctually dug the toothed toes of her skates in, grabbed his shoulder as he passed her, bent her knees, and cushioned his fall so that he slid down her leg instead of cracking his head off of the wall, the ice, or both. Laying on the cold surface, looking up at both reporter and lover over the tilted frames of the ever-present sunglasses, Tony Stark, CEO, sighed gustily.

"Yeah. I'm willing to pay her anything so that I can get offa this damned ice and back into somewhere that isn't below seventy-five degrees. Take note of that."


	13. Interval II

A Supremely Bright Idea  
By Sinead

Interval 2

.o.

_"Tony."_

_He looked down at the sweet lady beside him, and felt her hand slide into his._

_"I love how you understand that I don't need to be spoiled to show me that you love me."_

_With a chuckle, the man leaned against her slightly. "The moment Yinsen and I met you, we both knew that you weren't the kind to be swayed by things, but instead by feelings and touch and just being there for you."_

_"You're a loon. I love you."_

_He bowed his head and rested his cheek against her forehead. "You're amazing. I love you, too."_

.o.

"Becka?"

"Hm?"

"Would you still say no if I proposed to you here and now?"

"Your assumption would prove correct."

"Okay." He rested back down against the pillows, watching the fire blaze merrily while another snowstorm raged outside. It had grounded his flight to return home to Malibu, so he went back to the moderately-sized house (to him) that he had bought and had fixed up during the autumn, called to see if Rebeckah wanted to come over, and then asked Happy if he wanted to pick her up.

He started to do something he had never really done before. He began to start giving his two closest employees paid time off to just enjoy themselves, or to rest, especially now that they weren't as closely monitored on the East Coast. Granted, cameras still followed them around, but there was something to be said about how celebrities were treated here. They weren't as big as they were on the West Coast. There was something different in how they were regarded, and Tony couldn't put his finger on why, exactly.

Anyway. He liked giving Pepper and Happy time off, shooing them to their rooms and telling them to get changed out of work clothing and into something much more casual and comfortable. The first time he'd done that, he'd gotten word that Rebeckah had wanted to go apple-picking. And so of course, Tony wanted to try it. So he cancelled his appointments _on his own_, making sure that he had a valid reason to reschedule, then turned and called Happy. Once the chauffeur-slash-bodyguard knew of the plan, he grinned, got changed, then bundled Pepper into her room, standing outside the door until she, too, changed. Then came the charge to Becka's house, packing her up and bringing her out to an orchard.

Tony's mind flew back to that day again.

.o.

She was frowning, but not in aggravation. He knew that frown, and this was a different one. This one was a concentrated frown, one that really bespoke of someone who was trying to remember something that was just out of grasp. Pepper was up in the front seat beside Happy, her face glowing with happiness at being able to play hookey from everyone, including the media, who for once, wasn't following every time they went to a public bathroom.

Tony leaned closer to Rebeckah, whispering, "Is something wrong?"

"Ever get a hole in your memory that you _know_ should be there?"

"Yeah. It kinda sucks, but usually Pepper or Jarvis can fill me in on things."

"Lucky you," Becka deadpanned. Tony winced, and tried to back up and rephrase that but her hand on his stopped any comment. "No, that's my fault. I'm irritable, it's okay, it literally is just me."

He turned his hand over to hold hers, pulling it up to his face to brush her knuckles with a kiss before setting their hands back down between them. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"I didn't say something facetious, did I?"

"Factual. Chill."

"Then why are you so uptight, Beckers?"

She dropped her shoulders, her neck and back straightening, then swiveled her head to look at the man beside her with a very blunt expression. "Tony, you have Jarvis monitoring my every bodily function."

"Not true! Just the . . . oh."

"Yeeeeaaaah. _That's_ why I'm so uptight. It's called PMS. Pepper doesn't suffer from it because she's inhumanly amazing, so that's why you don't have to deal with it."

"I just know how to disguise it," came the front-seat correction. "Sarcasm and cynicism works wonders to cover passive-aggressive tenancies towards the male gender."

"Good line."

"I practice it."

"You can almost tell."

As the women laughed, Tony shook his head and looked to Rebeckah. "So about this hole in your memory."

"Oh!" She smiled and looked down at her hand, still surprised that it was within Tony's, and that his hold on her was protective. "This road just looks familiar, and I can't place why."

"We're here," Happy said, parking the car along the road and opening the door for Tony, who got out, holding his hand out for his ladylove. The bodyguard smiled at how the younger woman blushed that Tony's hand didn't let go when they were waiting to cross the street from the dirt parking lot to the actual orchard compound.

And at seeing some of the buildings, her face lit up with a bright happiness. "I used to come apple-picking here when I was a child! We used to get Macintosh apples here, and golden delicious and Fuji apples here!" She looked up at Tony. "Did you know?"

"I wish I could say yes and steal a kiss from you for reward, but no, I had no clue. We just decided to go to the largest orchard." The genius smiled and shrugged, but didn't expect his arms to be full of a happy Rebeckah who burrowed her head close to his heart, not just the arc reactor. His arms resting around her slender frame, he whispered, "So we made a good choice?"

"Yeah. Thank you."

"When was the last time you went apple-picking?"

"With my father. I was fifteen."

"Way too long ago. I'm glad that I can bring you _now_."

"Me too."

He turned his eyes down from watching Pepper and Happy move off, focusing upon his Rebeckah's head, pushing away all thoughts that lead down a certain road that he couldn't and wouldn't allow himself to comment on. He had to learn how to shut his mouth from time to time, and this was one of those times. Finally over the urge to blurt his thoughts, the man smiled, glad to have beaten back his brain. But as he opened his mouth to ask her if she as ready to go, he was cut off by her quiet voice. "Tony, I know this is a bad time to tell you . . ."

"Tell me what?" came his fearful whisper.

"I've always wanted to run off and enjoy the company of my man in an orchard, or a very private wooded area. Clean, wooded area."

There was silence between them for all of five seconds before Tony started laughing, but not at her, and there was a difference in how that laughter sounded. This was the laughter that threw one's head back, and held close the one who amused you. This was the laugh of relief. "I thought that it was just me thinking about it!"

"Nope. Let's not wander off on our own today."

"Why not? Might lead down some interesting paths!"

"Nope. Nope_nope_nope."

"Is that from 'Land Before Time'?"

". . . yepyepyep!"

Tony's laugh echoed over the land.

.o.

"Out of curiosity, why do you ask?"

The voice brought him back to reality, and Tony leaned his head against Rebeckah's, smiling at the fire. He really understood the true comfort of one, and wouldn't take his own at his Malibu mansion for granted anymore. "Because I'm learning."

"About what?"

"Timing. I suck at it."

"Tell me about it." She moved closer to him, a blanket around herself. Tony noted how it could almost look like she had nothing on _but_ the blanket, entertained that thought for a moment before shutting it away, and brought his head back under control, all in the space it took for Becka to lean against his chest. Her voice was softer. "But I like your bluntness and the ability that you have to tell the truth as it is. You rarely ever sugar anything up. I really like that in you."

"I don't know _how_ to sugar anything up."

"Which is a good thing, Tony, trust me. Too many people lie and tell half-truths."

That brought him up short. "Do you think that I'd been telling you half-truths?"

She shook her head against his heartbeat, closing her eyes.

"I love you. I really, really love you, Rebeckah." He held her closer, tighter, and whispered, "I love everything about you." He saw her tears fall, highlighted by the fire, and kissed them away. He knew she was still hurting about everything that had happened to her since coming back to America, and he knew that he had to help her start to heal again. That wasn't easy, but he knew that it was worth it.

"I wanted that baby so badly, Tony."

Her voice, choked up by tears, made Tony want to sob with her. His breath caught in his throat, and he managed to speak around it. "I did too."

"Why?" She pressed her face to his shoulder, shoulders and chest heaving with the force of her pain.

"Because Yinsen said to me one day, before you came, that I was a man who had everything, and nothing. I'm one of the richest men in the world, but I had nobody, no family, no very close friends, no loved one. The baby wasn't just so that I could have it all, Becka. I wanted that baby because I finally realized that I was only putting off having a family. I realized that the 'old me' was immature and selfish, and I'm still selfish. I want _you_ all to myself, but I know that it's wrong."

"Ain't wrong," she murmured. "Human."

He rested his cheek against her hair, then whispered, "Then I wasn't human before Yinsen and you. All there was to me was a shell, no meaning, nothing inside. You, now . . . you have _meaning_, you have worth, you know what you want in your life, and I'm _privileged_ to be the one that you want with you. Frankly, I'm in awe of you."

"'M still human," came the reply, and Tony reached up to begin stroking her hair, the back of her neck, and her shoulders, wanting to calm her. And yet the woman's voice was still distressed, but it was kept hidden under all the other layers. "Tony, I still have trouble wanting things that I know I shouldn't want."

"Like what?"

She shook her head.

"Please trust me. I won't say or do anything bad, and I won't get angry. I promise."

"You. In the way that I had you in the cave."

His breath left him in a quiet "oh," and his hand stilled as he processed that. He most definitely still thought about her, thought about how that night had been so _amazing_, and he wanted that again, but not at her expense. "Not gonna lie, Beckers, because I _would_ be if I said that I didn't want you like that, either. But I know that you want to wait. I respect that. And I _want_ you to wait until we're married. And if it's not me, then until you're married with the man that you really are meant to be with."

"You . . . but Tony, I don't _want_ any other man."

Right then, he knew how he was going to propose to her.

.o.

_**Author's Note:**__ Got the inspiration back, and I'm pounding out the chapters as fast as I can. This really is taking a different turn than I had originally planned for it. I didn't expect it to be this long, and certainly, didn't expect for it to be dealing with this sort of angst and yet, reality. Thank you for reading, and the next chapter is under way. I'll be finishing it up soon, and will be continuing onto a very important chapter after that one!_


	14. Chapter 12

A Supremely Bright Idea  
By Sinead

Chapter Twelve

_**Author's Note:**__ This chapter covers a lot of ground, so hang on tight!_

.o.

"Okay, look, I have a problem."

Rebeckah was in the middle of a designing project for a friend's company, working on a kimono design for the anime fanbase. She paused, looked at the phone that was in a nice holder beside the computer screen so that Tony could see her face, and that she could glance at him during their conversation, or lack thereof while both worked on projects. After a short hesitation, she then saved her work, diverting all her attention to Tony, who was in Malibu. "Okay."

"Pepper told me that I have to attend a black-tie charity ball. Said that I'd been invited, and I don't remember telling her to do the RSVP, but she did. And now I have to go, and I'm _encouraged_ to bring a guest. Their form of encouragement was 'you will bring a guest, or we will find you a guest, and she will be a magazine model of great worth and lacking in decent clothing.' Let me think about that for one moment, and _you_ tell me what _my_ answer to that problem is."

"Tony!" Rebeckah groaned. This was the last thing she wanted to do. "Aw, man, why?"

"Will you let me please finish?"

Sighing gustily, the woman sat back in her chair, still in view of the phone's camera. "Right, go on."

"I want to ask you if you want to come, but I don't plan on staying for the entire ball. I know it's January, I know it's cold, but I want you to please consider it." His face was serious. "I'm not just asking you to come for my sake, either. The charity ball is for disadvantaged orphans."

"I know that edge in your voice, even if you're not looking at the phone. What's got you upset?"

Tony looked at her eyes, her face, then drew in a deep breath and sighed. "Some idiot thought that it'd be fun to bring the orphanage to the ball. That's about fifty children, including infants."

They stared at each other for a long while, until the woman sighed, nodded, and said, "Cash my plane ticket in. I'll come. I doubt that anybody but the orphanage workers know just how chaotic five hyper children in a new place can be, nevermind _fifty_. Can I chew out the jerk who thought that it'd be a good idea to bring the children?"

"I was planning on that, and I'll be very careful to introduce the two of you. Can I choose your dress?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No," she giggled.

"Can I at least know the color that you'll be wearing?"

She thought about it, smiling before whispering, "I'll probably be wearing blue. Don't know what shade yet."

"Midnight blue?" he asked, a broad grin going across his face.

"You like that color, I'm guessing."

"Only on you."

"I'll see what I can find. I'll get a picture of it sent to you."

"Will you let me pay for the dress?"

"Tony," came her warning tone.

"You're working part-time just to keep some normalcy in your life, and I know that you don't want to work full-time hours just to buy a dress. Please let me do this for you."

"You want to spoil me."

"Very much so. You deserve it, even if you don't want it. And I like buying you things."

She chuckled, shaking her head. Sometimes, she really didn't understand the man she loved, but the way he was spoiling her was a very tender, smooth thing. It wasn't charity. It wasn't bribery. It was Tony's deep wish to make sure that she had everything she needed, and then some. "Okay."

"Look in your wallet."

She _glared_ at him. "What did you do."

"Just look," he insisted, his mischievous smile making her lean over, pick her bag up, and pull out the trifold men's wallet that she loved because it had enough space for the things she needed, but kept compact.

Pulling it out, she opened it and saw that there was nothing amiss. Frowning, she then looked up at Tony in confusion. He lifted a hand as if to point into a certain pocket. "Look behind your ID."

She did, then pulled out not _his_ card, but . . . her own debit card? From a bank in California? With her name on it? "Tony . . ."

"I love how you say my name," he murmured, smiling at her face. "That's to a personal account of mine, which is now a joint-account. I put you on there for emergencies on your end, and for traveling expenses and anything else you need. You won't break the balance, and no, I'm not telling you what that balance _is_." Smiling, he whispered, "Are you okay?"

"Why did you do this for me?"

He paused, and Rebeckah watched his face as he thought, processing and forming what he wanted to say to the young woman. When he spoke, his voice was solemn. "Yinsen would have wanted me to do _everything possible_ for you, to care for you and watch out for you. He didn't care what happened between us or if we managed to stay together. He wanted me to love you regardless of any circumstance. I don't know how to do that very well, but I'm doing everything I can to try and to learn. Ah, sweetie, please don't cry."

"'M _happy_," came the teared-up reply. She wiped at her face. "Confused, but happy."

"Why both confused and happy?"

Sniffing deeply, she explained. "Happy because you've been doing what Yinsen wanted you to since we came back. And that you've really changed from the womanizer and boozer to a man who still holds a front, but you've changed from the very core of who you are. Confused because you hide it so well, even from me." She paused. "Especially from me, sometimes."

He was silent for a moment, then sighed and sat back in his desk chair, staring into space before replying, his gaze sharpening, but still not focusing upon his lover. "It's . . . hard . . . for me to really let my guard down. It's easier around you, because you've seen me _almost_ at my worst point, but . . . it's really hard." Aiming his dark brown gaze at her face, he murmured softly, "I need excuses to feel you against me, to hold you."

Smiling through the tears, she whispered, "You really don't, Tony. Honest, you don't."

"But . . . I don't want to give you the wrong idea." He looked away for a moment before looking at her beautiful face again, staring at her deep blue eyes, her auburn-tinged hair.

She smiled, wiping at her tears and sniffing once. "You aren't. I know that you respect me."

"When are you coming?" he whispered softly, touching the screen, wishing it was her skin, her cheek that he was pressing his fingertips against, and not some plastic.

"When is the banquet?"

"In two weeks."

She smiled, murmuring, "Then I'd better make some appearances. I'll be there tomorrow. I want you to help me choose the dress."

Becka loved seeing that look on Tony's face of happy surprise, and she smiled brightly as he beamed at her.

.o.

She had flown on a commercial airliner, and it was hilarious to see people staring at her while she moved through the Los Angeles airport. They knew who she was, of course, and were shocked to see her lugging her own carry-on baggage like a normal person. Teen girls stopped her with their soprano giggles and requests for autographs and pictures, which she smilingly and happily obliged to. But she went one step further, not caring how long Tony was going to have to wait, and she _spoke_ with the girls, connecting with them.

Some got aloof.

Most were happy that someone was paying attention to them, and once they realized that it was genuine, they lost the giggles, and tentatively brought forth the genuine smiles.

Of course, it was just her luck that she emerged with a gaggle of teenyboppers, and walked right into Happy's chest. She blinked up at him. "Happy!"

The girls went silent.

He pulled his shades off, leaned closer, and spoke. "Tony's all but going into panic mode because you're over an hour late. I can tell him that you've one-upped him on how many ladies you can attract."

She punched him good and hard in the shoulder, then grinned. "Just because I love to be around some ladies who have great minds but are only recognized for their fantastic looks—"

"Which I'm hardly doubting," Happy said quickly.

"—well, it doesn't mean that I'm the same as Tony had been in years past." She shook her head, and looked to one of the older teens behind her. "So, you're going to be attending Berkeley for paleontology?"

And the conversation started up again while Happy lead Becka to her luggage, calling Tony up while on the way. All the girls wanted to know what she thought about their life plans, and after a moment's consideration, she pulled out a pen and a piece of paper. "Okay, this is one of my email addresses, and I'd prefer it if you didn't share it with anyone unless you run them by me first." She smiled brightly, and handed it to the aspiring jazz artist, who pulled out her phone, took a picture of the address, and passed the paper down the line of girls who all did the same. "I want to know your favorite nickname, where you're from, where you're going to school, goals, troubles, you name it. I'll be in the area for a while."

"So you're really moving in with Tony Stark?" a short brunette said, shoving her shocking blonde bangs out of her face.

"Nah. I have an apartment here. But he invited me to an event, so I expect that you'll see me." Her smile bright, she added, "So you've been reading the gossip mags, huh?"

"They say you're pregnant."

Happy heard that and froze, but upon hearing the woman's bright laugh, turned his head to look at her when she spoke. "Naah. I'm not. That's all belly fat."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously. I hate eating healthy. If I get pregnant, trust me. I'm sure that Tony would announce it in the most obnoxious way possible."

So of course, said man came up behind her, wrapped his arms around her and razzed her neck, causing her to squeal and blush before turning in his arms and hugging him. He laughed. "So now I'm obnoxious?"

"Yes. You've _always_ been obnoxious. Pepper can attest to that." She looked up at his face, not quite ignoring the girls who were cautiously pulling cameras out again, and not minding that they did. "But you're _my_ obnoxiously rich genius."

Flash.

Tony grinned and rested the tip of his nose against hers.

Flash-flash-flash-flash-flash-flash-flash-flash!

"Camera whore," she snickered.

"Yeah," he confirmed.

Breaking apart and laughing, Becka turned back to the girls, feeling Tony's hand slide around hers while he greeted them congenially. After a short while, an angry father stormed up to them, glaring at Tony because of the automatic assumption that the man was back to womanizing. And yet, the billionaire was watching _Rebeckah_ talking with one of the peroxide-blondes about something that had to do with how men mature later in life than women. And then the father stared at Rebeckah as well as she outlined a few things, counting them out on her fingers to the young lady.

Tony knew it was going to be a while before they got home.

But that was okay.

His Rebeckah was back on the West Coast.

.o.

This was a sizzling dress.

Turning in the mirror, Rebeckah looked at her butt, the curve of her back, the lines of the dress, how it fit over her small bust, length, and overall appearance. It was perfect. It was expensive, but it was also very, very well done, well-tailored, stitched perfectly, and best of all? She loved the color. Pepper was grinning a touch unprofessionally, and she leaned in to mutter, "So. Are you trying to provoke Tony?"

"Not really. If you've noticed the pile of dresses that he's suggested, and the ones that I wanted to try on, this seemed like a good compromise." She pointed to the two racks of dresses that the store associates were only to happy to bring to their luxury dressing room for the possible future Mrs Stark. Tony's selection were of two colors: electric blue that would match his arc reactor, or hot rod red, his favorite color. The styles ranged from sophisticated to skanky. There were two that Becka was sure that he tossed in there as a joke. She hoped.

On the other hand, her selection of dresses were from any color, and were mainly conservative, opting on covering a good amount of skin. The dress she currently sported was an amazing crimson with off-the-shoulder straps, mid-back height in the rear with lacing to keep it snug against her sides and stomach, and a bodice that fit smoothly with just the right hint of snugness that still gave her room to move and sit freely in. The skirt of the dress went to just below her knees in the front, dipping down to her calves in the back. Smiling, she looked to Pepper and said, "Simple bronze heels, with matching jewelry, all very modest in appearance, but all very delicate. No big jewelry."

The PA smiled. "Just because you have money, you prefer to default to simplicity instead of over-doing anything. You've joined the ranks of a select few."

"Of course. And you sound like you're trying very hard to sound professional, Pepper."

"And you sound like Tony and have no care in the world or even a care for public image. What about your hair?"

Laughing, seeing the dry skepticism in Pepper's gaze, knowing that she was being teased, Rebeckah replied, "See if we can find something bronze with red gems, even if they're rhinestones, set into it, and clip half up, with the other half down in curls." She turned in the mirror, watching her dress spin around her elegantly, then slid to a graceful stop to see how the fabric slowed after she did. "Niiice."

Pepper gave into laughter, shaking her head. Neither Becka nor Tony knew that they said the same word in the same way when presented with something very, very cool. Only she knew that for now. "So! Want to show him the final decision?"

"Will they let him back here?"

"Probably. Let me get him; go over behind that screen."

Following the redhead's direction, Becka waited until she heard Tony grumble good-naturedly before walking out barefoot, smiling winningly as she stopped right before the mirrors so that he could get a good look at the dress from all sides. He snapped his fingers. "Gold with that red. Definitely gold."

Thus the East Coast woman chuckled. "Sorry, Tony. You get one choice of color. You chose red." But she allowed him to slide her into his arms while Pepper smilingly left the large dressing room for the two to have their privacy.

Tony's voice was low as he watched her face and murmured, "Then next time, wear gold."

"I think that can be arranged somehow."

.o.

"Hap, are you coming in with Pepper?"

The bodyguard didn't snort, but the tone of his voice indicated that he wished he could. "Considering the havoc you two are predicting, we have no choice."

Pepper was in the front seat of the limo, dressed in her normal office-wear, stilettos included. She was going to be handling the press and media about various subjects while Tony and Becka enjoyed themselves. To make sure that she wasn't overwhelmed, Becka had Tony give Pepper two days off. When the PA had insisted to know who would be taking care of paperwork, she was rewarded with two bright smiles from the very two who were persuading her to enjoy a day at the spa.

She hadn't found one mishandled email or one undiplomatic remark in any of their replies. The tone of the emails were professional, signed by Tony himself "in lieu of Virginia Potts." Upon questioning them, she found that Becka had taken over the PA duties, but had a constant feed to Tony while he worked, something that as a professional, Pepper wouldn't have allowed herself to do. They worked in perfect harmony to each other.

Where would that leave Pepper if they did marry?

Shoving that question to the back burner of her mind, Pepper drew in a deep breath. "Remember what I told you about the Kroninsky brothers, Rebecka."

"They're the reason why I'm wearing stilettos with steel heels, and they're already on probation. If they approach me, make sure that I have Tony around or I'm on my way to Tony. If they touch me, that's an automatic stomp on the foot, and they'd be at fault because of the nature of their probation."

"Henry Chase?"

"Womanizer, millionaire that loves to be in the limelight, an impeccable appearance, loves brunettes, and I can never be out of Tony's sight while he's in the building. The one exception to that rule is a bathroom run.s"

"Chevy Chase?"

"Laugh at anything he says. No matter how unfunny."

"Shia LeBeouf?"

Rebecka snorted. "He's not a threat, and you didn't put him on the list of faces to make sure that I don't run into. Keep to intelligent conversation with him and he's safe."

Tony grinned as Pepper handed back a second list. "Keep an eye out for this guy."

Both stared at the face, which looked all too familiar. After a stunned silence, Tony asked, "Is that who I think it is?"

"Yes. He's back in the business, as it were."

Rebecka looked at the name, then chuckled. "Well. So he is. Dang, Tony."

"This is not a laughing matter."

The women shared a look before giggling again. Pepper said the name from memory, with a warning. "He's liable to steal your girls, Tony. He's one for _you_ to look out for. Robert Downey Junior. Your spitting image."


	15. Chapter 13

A Supremely Bright Idea  
By Sinead

Chapter Thirteen

.o.

They slowly made their way up the red carpet, interrupted by photographers for the media looking for images of couples attending the Orphans' Ball, as it had been so ineloquently named. The children hadn't arrived yet, but were scheduled to be there within the hour. Posing with Rebeckah for another shot, knowing that they were one of the most sought-after couples just because of their odd story and the rags-to-riches factor in Rebeckah's favor, they often got the question, "Did you ask Tony to bring you to this event, Miss Fahey?"

To which she always replied, "No. We had discussed going to an event like this for a while, and this was one that fell in nicely with both schedules."

The second-most-common question was, "Are you still having an affair with Iron Man?"

The answer: "Of course not."

Finally inside, meeting up with Pepper and Happy, both of whom ushered them into a small preparation room for the appearance inside the building, they took the time to rest and recuperate from the barrage of flashing lights and shouted questions. Pepper touched up their hair (and makeup in Rebecka's case), letting them know of the most recent arrivals, who was interesting in meeting with them and the current haunts of one of the people to watch out for. When she paused for breath to continue with a few of the corporate decisions made in the last two days, the door was opened and a couple quickly made their way in, closing it after them. Happy had blocked Tony and Rebeckah from view of the door, his back to his boss while settling for looking intimidating.

And then blinked once. "Sir, your double has arrived."

The actor looked confused until Tony walked around his bodyguard, fiddling with one of his cufflinks. Sighing, he gave up, looked up at none other than Robert Downey Junior and whom he had to suspect was the man's current girlfriend, and then cocked an eyebrow. "Not bad. You look better with stubble than when you're clean-shaven."

"Says the man who never shaves unless someone physically shoves the razor into his hand and points him to a mirror," Pepper grumbled while Rebeckah's hands appeared from behind Happy to fix the cufflink in two quick motions. She continued. "Are you aware of the media's rumblings, Mr Downey?"

"That we're illegitimate brothers? Yeah. It's crap." The older of the two apparent "twins" looked to the younger, but watched as Rebeckah walked to Tony's side, studying his face silently. "Sorry, miss. Taken. But thanks for the silent complement."

She chuckled, shaking her head and putting her hand into Tony's to prevent him from blowing up at the other man. "I wasn't complementing you. I was studying the differences between you and my Tony. It's close." Looking up at her genius, she caught him giving her a broad smile before tucking her hand up onto his elbow.

"Pep, Hap, you know the drill. Pepper, I need you to let me know when the prig shows up. Becka wants to 'meet' him and 'thank' him for his 'kind gesture' of bringing the orphanage _here_." Tony's eyes flashed maliciously before the mask was put into place again. "And keep us up to date on when the children actually arrive. I, for one, would love to have at least one kid tagging behind me at all times."

"Are you serious?" Downey asked quietly. "I might not know much in the grand scheme of things, but I didn't take you for a man who loved children."

Tony drew in a deep breath. "Before Afghanistan, no, I didn't want anything to do with them. Since that point, I've come to understand that they're our future, they're our best investment, and they're the ones that are going to be fixing our mistakes. If I've got the chance to persuade those who will be someday _leading_ us that they can do better than what we had, then I'm going to use all the influence in my power to keep us from going through another moral meltdown." He looked down to Rebeckah, then seemed to sharpen the edge that had been missing from his public personality for many months. "That, and there are those around me who have been patient with me while I learned how to reset my views."

"Patient?" Happy muttered.

"That would be me," Pepper replied as the celebrities ahead of her went their separate ways. "And if _you_ test my patience, you'll see how far it stretches."

Wrapping her hand in his, Happy murmured lovingly, "I'd never press your patience, Pep."

.o.

Tony's phone buzzed, and he pulled it out, saw the message, then put it away. Rebeckah looked up at him, then down at what had been a non-alcoholic drink in her hand, and was now an empty glass. She chuckled as a server came to take it from her, and to the shock of the high-rolling group they were speaking with, paused him to thank the man. "I've seen you scurrying about to catch glasses all evening. Thank you so much."

He didn't have to look at her long to see that she was completely sober. He'd been around people of varying degrees of inebriation for many years, so his assessment was quick and astute. And his smile was genuine when he saw that she wasn't flattering him, just thanking him. "You were a server, I suspect."

"Worse. Janitor for a year."

He chuckled, and nodded his head to her, darting over to save a glass from certain doom, taking it with him even though it was half-full. The man who had been drinking wouldn't need it any more. Tony smiled and murmured an excuse, claiming to see someone that they needed to speak to. Rebeckah tucked her hand up into the crook of his arm, walking beside him steadily upon the delicate-looking stilettos. She had been practicing in another pair that had their same height but were for business wear, and while she was no Pepper Potts in them, she could move at a fair clip when agitated, as Tony swiftly found out when he had been swatted in play for being a snobbish pig.

"He showed up."

The smile on her face was serene, the look in her eyes savage, and she cast her gaze down upon the carpet as if he had paid her a complement. The flush of anger on her cheeks could easily be mistook for a blush. "And?"

"The children are with him. I think he realized just what he had gotten himself into."

Drafting in a deep breath, she calmed her features, looked up as the orphans were announced. "Mind if I make a scene later on?"

"Playing with them?"

"Yeah."

"As long as you let me help you take those stilettos off. Because while you're amazing to look at in that outfit, it's not the wisest thing to really be running after children in."

"Sounds like a plan. I'll be chasing after the kids and helping their caretakers no matter what goes on."

Tony smiled and kissed her cheek, and they ended up being two of the first to greet the children. The first couple made quite a few stagger backwards in shock at their vainglorious and too-loud voices of welcome, and the second couple made more fall back with their stiff attitudes. But Becka motioned for Tony to stand back while she moved forward, then crouched and whispered in the sudden awkward silence, "Hello." Three children looked up at her soft voice, seeing that she was at their eye-level, instead of standing above them. She looked at them, then at the others who were peeking around their caretakers. This was her forte.

Tony finally saw her in her element, and he was stunned at the effect that she had not only on the children, but on the others around him. The atmosphere relaxed as the men and women unconsciously responded to her real nature, her open body language. She _giggled_ and reached out to one group of young boys, holding her hand out until one of them broke forward to slap her palm with his, standing tall. She grinned up at him and looked to the others. "What, is he the only brave one? C'mon . . ."

All of a sudden, there was a rush of children to her, and she stood, careful not to land on precious toes with her heels while giving high-fives to the little ones, getting to know their names. She and Pepper had already looked up names and reliability and personalities of the other guests. With a smile, she motioned for Tony to come closer, and he picked up one of the smallest toddlers who were trying to get to Rebeckah with a natural grace that _he_ didn't even know that he possessed. Cradling her in one arm, he made it to the woman's side, glad that they had pictures of her in the dress before it was ruined.

But what a way to ruin a piece of clothing.

He handed the toddler to her, and she kissed the little girl's forehead before settling her on her hip. Within moments, drooly hands were all over the bodice of the dress, but it was as if she hadn't even done a thing as far as Rebeckah was concerned. She giggled and landed a gentle razz on the toddler's cheek, eliciting a giggle that lead to a wave of laughter from the children. Tony felt hands gripping at his pants, and he looked down to see a young boy holding onto him with one hand, sleepily sucking on his thumb with another. He smiled, picking the lad up and let him rest his head on his shoulder.

While the other children, no doubt hyped up by some sugar and the sense of adventure, started to ramble through the crowd, Tony stayed close to Rebeckah, who let the squirming girl down so that she could run after a "big sister," and accepted a dry hand-towel from one of the servers. She smiled at Tony just as he felt a little hand reach up to play with his ear. Blinking, he looked at the boy, whose arm was tucked between both bodies to support his thumb-sucking, and saw that the light brown eyes in a suntanned face glanced up at him before the boy blinked, still playing with Tony's ear while he fell asleep.

"Mom says that my brother did that, too," Becka said softly while she rested a hand upon the boy's back to see the sweet face fall into slumber.

Tony smiled and leaned in just enough to kiss her forehead without dislodging the boy that trust him enough to sleep on him. His words weren't said, but she knew that it was a trait that he, too, enjoyed. She smiled as a caretaker came up beside them with a fussy infant that was barely a month old. Tony felt his heart jerk.

Rebeckah's voice was a whisper. "Can I hold her?"

The woman nodded, smiling, happy to have her arms free for a moment, and Becka looked at the infant's face, which was screwed up with the force of their wailing. Tony watched his woman as she smiled and curled the infant up against her chest, right over her heart. He watched how she moved, how every movement was now centered about the baby in her arms. He was standing in awe at not just the way that she was focused up on the child, but how the child was responding to her touch, to her soft noises to calm the infant.

This was what she would have looked like had Obadiah hadn't taken their future from them.

He didn't know that his eyes had welled up until the familiar soft hand was brushing at them, the infant stilled and calm, close to sleep and held easily with one arm against Rebeckah's heartbeat. Tony smiled and kissed her forehead, glad that cameras weren't allowed inside the compound. "Let's get you to a chair so that I can get your shoes off."

The caretaker took the boy from Tony, carrying him to a couch and sitting with him, letting the couple walk with the baby to a seat, where Tony helped take her stilettos off. He was tackled by another little boy, one who wanted to be a firefighter when he grew up.

Sitting cross-legged against the chair that Rebeckah sat in with the baby still snuggled up against her chest, Tony sat the little boy on his lap, talking with him and listening to his answers, watching as a little girl, maybe four, maybe five, came up to crawl onto Becka's lap, leaning against her and resting from her moments of freedom. Another little girl followed her, younger than the first at maybe three years of age, but chose Tony to embrace her. He did so, still talking with the five-year-old boy After a moment, one of the official photographers came up to request a picture.

Becka looked down to Tony, who smiled and relaxed further, then nodded, not taking his eyes off of his love for a moment, hearing the photographer taking multiple shots from different angles while Tony returned his attention to the two on his lap, and Rebeckah held the babe in arms, and the girl on her own lap.

It felt _right_.

Tony was able to keep himself from bursting into tears, and covered up the urge to weep anew for his –their– loss of the child they were supposed to have by hugging the little girl close and kissing her head, bowing his face so that he could hide his eyes from the camera. She giggled and snuggled closer to him while the little boy kept talking about his dreams.

But through the night, being able to talk with the older children who managed to stay awake, Anthony Edward Stark's heart slowly began to heal that fracture as Rebeckah often followed him with the baby on her shoulder.

Yeah. This was what life was supposed to be like.

.o.

"You're smiling really big," he commented as he rolled back under his hot rod, hands grubby as he continued to do an oil change on his own. But his own smile was happy.

"I got the gossip magazines. And I got the official gossip mag that had the exclusive with the photographer who took our picture."

He chuckled, finishing up what he had been doing and talking at the same time. "Are you angry that you weren't able to chew out that man for his poor decision?"

"Nope. I think that the children were able to take care of that for me. Since he was the one doing the charity event and all proceeds went to local orphanages, _and_ there were some damage, the money to pay for damages were on his head, and came out of his own pocket." Her voice got clearer as she got closer, until she was sitting beside his legs on an upended bucket. "I think that's justice enough."

"So what are they saying about us?"

"I'm quoting this: 'Is this the next Brangelina?' and 'Will they follow the fad and adopt?' The rest follow suit." Chuckling, she added, "But we're an official couple. They've given us the name-mash-up."

His groan was priceless. "What is it?"

"There are two, and one will win out."

"What's the first?"

"It's a remix of an old one. Beckerony."

"From the Pepperony thing when they thought that Pepper and I were an item. Wrench, please, the one by your left foot. Thanks."

"You're welcome. And the other one is Antheckah."

All movement stopped and he slid out from under the car. "You're serious."

She held up the paper to show him the cover, which was them as they posed on the red carpet, Tony with his arm around her and both smiling the red-carpet-smile and the new . He glared at it, then huffed and went back under the car. "It sounds like a curse."

"I'm voting for Beckerony."

"I'm voting for neither."

"Spoilsport."

Tony finally chuckled. "And the rumors are that we're looking to adopt?"

"Yeap. Or that I'm pregnant."

"Mm. Well, that wouldn't be so horrible." At hearing her silence, he rolled out from under the car and sat on the ground before her. "Beckers?"

"I wish that I still was pregnant."

Wiping his hands off on his jeans quickly, Tony reached up to cup her face, wiping the tears before pulling her down into his lap and rocking her softly. No more words were said for a long while as Tony just held his woman. He kissed her forehead and crown, tucking her head under his chin and keeping her safe, keeping her his. Resting his nose against her hair, he breathed in her scent before murmuring, "Tomorrow, let me take you on a day trip. Just to get away from the city, and just to enjoy driving. That sound good?"

His heart leapt within him as she nodded.

Almost time.

.o.

They wound their way up the California coastline, ending at a park for lunch, just enjoying each other's company and enjoying the brief break from media hound-dogs. Once finished with their meal, they turned south again to be able to get home. The sun began to set just as they were near a really pretty spot. Smiling, he stopped the car, and then moved around to her side, helping her out. "C'mon. I used to go here when I was a kid, and Dad used to bring me and Mom here so that we could get away from everyone."

He lead her down to the secluded bay, the sunset coloring the sea, bathing everything in a warm light.

And that was when he got down on one knee, looked up at Rebeckah, and knew by her tears that she had already said the magical word in her heart before he had even said anything. "I love you with all of my heart, all of my soul. I want to be a better man for you, and I want to be the one that you will do your best for. I want to provide for you, have children with you, grow old with you. I love you, Rebeckah Fahey. Will you marry me?"

She opened her mouth and then closed it, tears streaming down her face. When she could speak, she nodded and whispered a soft, "Yes."

Slipping the ring on her finger, Tony stood to embrace her, then gently leaned in to give her only the second kiss that they had shared since returning from Afghanistan, one hand going up behind her head to cradle it softly, the feel of her silken hair around his hand almost too much.

That was when he pulled back gently, realizing brightly that _she said yes_.

And he threw his head back and yelled with glee, laughing and crying, holding his woman and wiping her tears of joy away. He wouldn't kiss her again.

Not until their wedding day.

.o.

_**Author's Note:**__ That's it for this story! I have a sequel in the works, but please REVIEW! Let me know what you want to see in the next story, and let me know what you would NOT want to see! I'm very curious! Please let me know about what you thought about this first foray into the Ironman world, and I want to thank all my watchers and those who reviewed. I hope that I don't disappoint you with the next one!_


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